This blog has really turned into a food blog. I'm quite happy about that, but may have to find a more professional outlet for my other stuff so the big wigs don't have to demean themselves by going to a website that is called what this one is. I need to find a cheap way of people being able to access my MA dissertation and publishing it (with a password) on the web seems like a good start. Over the next couple of weeks I will have to try and do this and get the contributors to check it.
We went to Salvos last night and suffice to say we weren't disappointed, 4/5. Mine was slightly overseasoned, but it is nice they've had recognition from Gordon Ramsey.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Saturday, October 31, 2009
All Hallows' Eve dinner party
Last night my incredible husband cooked another feast for five guests including us. The only thing we didn't prepare ourselves were the sundried tomatoes. It was marvellous, the menu was:
Amuse bouche - crostinis prepared by moi (mackerel pate, sundried tomatoes and artichoke)
Starter
Pumpkin ravioli with witches' sage butter
Main course
Pot roasted pheasant flavoured with orange on a bed of brussel sprouts and bacon served with chesnut duchess potatoes
Dessert
Pear and blackberry crumble with hazelnut icecream
There were things that went really well. Lovely guests as always. Conversation was a bit worky-work orientated but c'est la vie. The halloween theme worked wonderfully with hubby preparing a family of hollowed out pumpkins for the occasion. The wine was delectable, we have rediscovered Mersault, beautiful. The halloween theme spread to the menu with the pumpkin ravioli which worked very well, a very interesting set of tastes, the sweetness of the pumpkin set off well against the savoury sage butter. The main course was a great recipe from one of our fave recipe books - Off Duty - by chefs; apparently what they cook when they're 'off duty'. The pheasant was good with a delicious jus. We could have got a potato bag to squeeze the duchesses out of, but had to make do with an icing sugar one. The Hazelnut Icecream was declared the star of the evening with husband announcing that this was the best thing he had ever made, and I had to concur. We finished with Betty's coffee and some Yorkshire cheeses from Booths'. A great evening.
Amuse bouche - crostinis prepared by moi (mackerel pate, sundried tomatoes and artichoke)
Starter
Pumpkin ravioli with witches' sage butter
Main course
Pot roasted pheasant flavoured with orange on a bed of brussel sprouts and bacon served with chesnut duchess potatoes
Dessert
Pear and blackberry crumble with hazelnut icecream
There were things that went really well. Lovely guests as always. Conversation was a bit worky-work orientated but c'est la vie. The halloween theme worked wonderfully with hubby preparing a family of hollowed out pumpkins for the occasion. The wine was delectable, we have rediscovered Mersault, beautiful. The halloween theme spread to the menu with the pumpkin ravioli which worked very well, a very interesting set of tastes, the sweetness of the pumpkin set off well against the savoury sage butter. The main course was a great recipe from one of our fave recipe books - Off Duty - by chefs; apparently what they cook when they're 'off duty'. The pheasant was good with a delicious jus. We could have got a potato bag to squeeze the duchesses out of, but had to make do with an icing sugar one. The Hazelnut Icecream was declared the star of the evening with husband announcing that this was the best thing he had ever made, and I had to concur. We finished with Betty's coffee and some Yorkshire cheeses from Booths'. A great evening.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Maggie's autumnal pear tort
This is a great recipe if you have a pear tree or happen to have a load of cheap pears. Firstly make the shortcrust pastry : 200g of flour, 100g of lard or butter and 1 beaten egg. You put the flour in the food processor, whizzing the fat into the flour. Gradually add the beaten egg and make sure it isn't too wet! Make it into a dough ball and wrap in cling film and put in the fridge to chill for half an hour. Meanwhile peel 12 pears, and quarter, taking out the seeds. Melt a knob of butter in a frying pan and gently fry the pears for five minutes. Add brown sugar, a little bit of lemon juice and cinnamon. Put in a seven or eight inch sandwich tin (a tin for sponge cakes with plenty of butter (about 2 ounces each tin). Cut the pastry in half, roll out into a circle the size of the tin. Put the pears in the tin with the pastry on top at about 190 degrees C. Will be ready after 15-20 minutes (keep an eye on it).
Mackerel salad
I have discovered a brilliant new salad inspired by Connie and also the Three Crowns in Stoke Newington. It is mackerel, warmed up in the oven for about seven minutes. Served on a bed of salad leaves: ideally watercress, coriander and spinach leaves amongst them. Sprinkled with walnuts, grated apple and beetroot to the side. Garnished with lemon wedges which you then squeeze on the mackerel. Perfect. For more wintry days you can add some carbs, like I did today - a jacket potato with cottage cheese.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Sous Le Nez in Leeds: Our New Favourite Restaurant
On my desk there is a globe which I gaze at often to get a sense of perspective if something isn't going right. I also have a photograph of the earth in space which does the same. This restaurant and other good ones in the world give me the same feeling. You are soaking up time on the earth, because when it is this good you want it to last. This amazing restaurant brings happy memories of our lovely Honeymoon, back in time, in the Loire Valley. So we had a lengthy debate invovling Wikipedia about what to have as an aperitif. Husband doesn't like them as much as me, in the end we both had champagne. Apologies to all our friends and relatives with substance abuse issues - there's quite a number - but at this restaurant you can fully understand why this occurs. In a sentence: The wine is divine. We celebrated the completion of my MA in this place and thank God we did. It was so good I could hardly remember it, so we just had to go back three weeks later, where I ordered exactly the same starter (absolutely unheard of) and gave it a second run for reviewing purposes. It was the most delicious scallops dish I have ever had, perfectly cooked with the a gorgeous two sauce combination of mushrooms and leeks. I followed this up with monk fish and tomatoes, again a classic. Husband had crab followed by halibut. The real reason for coming to this restaurant though - let's be honest the service is refreshingly French - is for the liquid accompaniment. Jean Denis the sommelier must be the best in the country, or one of the best. Have I said the wine was divine? The aroma was crushed thyme with lemon and apple. The taste was so interesting, slivers of silvery liquid gold. JD decanted it for us and we made every last drop last. For dessert I had roasted figs with mascapponne ; husband had cheese and biscuits. Heaven. On Earth.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Food for the brain...
A friend recommended a website which helps people manage their mental health through nutrition. Good advice. It's the whole nature - nurture argument, that whatever we are blessed with from our parents, we can build on through looking after ourselves well. I've had a lot of nurturing food just recently and I intend to write all the recipes up on this blog soon: Dad's lentil hot pot, Mum's spag bol, Mary's chicken soup, Doreen's cottage pie, Maggie's butter bean and sausage goulash, Maggie's pear tort, Cookie's three mustard pork strogganoff. My own chicken and stilton strog. Yum. The running is going well too, I've been out six out of seven days last week!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
MA handed in
Life is about good and bad, life and death, sickness and health. We have had a bit of bad news, but also some good news. For those reading this who know me well, do give me a ring on my mobile if you want to find out the bad news. For everyone else, this blog is supposed to be an uplifting account of what I've been up to. Firstly I have handed in the MA. That is definitely good news. We have celebrated with some wonderful meals out in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland: Le Souz de Nez in Leeds (9/10), Bentley's Oyster Bar in Dublin (9/10), The Winding Stair in Dublin (9/10) and Eden in Dublin (9.2/10). We have bought a new car - four wheel drive for hubby's snow driving this winter. Before anyone collapses with shock - it's a green estate audi (again). We can drive to see all our friends and family now, so expect a call soon if you know us. I have been running - four times on the trot this week, a record for me. Very chuffed with that.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Writing tips
Freewrite - you will feel better
index cards
acupressure
write targets for the calendar
write achievements of the day, month, year, MA - stick it up
write in different coloured pens
use fancy highlighters
do some filing
reading
skim reading
read your own material
**how to write books**
Elbow how to write book
reading lists, bibliography
a decent word, a decent sentence, a decent paragraph
write lists, tidy space, tidy files, tidy room
incense, aromatherapy
an exciting and original new line
things from every angle in a wide context
Antedating the Oxford English Dictionary's entry for senile dementia - a copy of the email I sent
Thank you so much for your incredible help when we spoke on thetelephone earlier. Since we first spoke I have subscribed to the OxfordEnglish Dictionary, which is a marvellous support.As I mentioned to you, I think I have found an earlier reference to the pathological definition of senile dementia to the one in the OED.
The OED states "1851 R DunglisonDict Med Sci (ed 8) Senile Dementia, Insanity of the Aged,"
The reference I have found is James Cowles Prichard Treatise on Insanity(London: Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper 1835)
"Senile dementia or the decay of the mental faculties is not the lot ofold persons universally, though it is a condition to which old age maybe said to have tendency, and to which in the last stage of bodily decaysome approximations are generally to be perceived". p92
If you could acknowledge receipt I would be most grateful.
The OED states "1851 R DunglisonDict Med Sci (ed 8) Senile Dementia, Insanity of the Aged,"
The reference I have found is James Cowles Prichard Treatise on Insanity(London: Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper 1835)
"Senile dementia or the decay of the mental faculties is not the lot ofold persons universally, though it is a condition to which old age maybe said to have tendency, and to which in the last stage of bodily decaysome approximations are generally to be perceived". p92
If you could acknowledge receipt I would be most grateful.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Sustainable Summer, Fish
I have twisted my chair so I can glimpse the garden from where I am sitting. To be honest I should have written this garden update a couple of weeks ago. When things were in full bloom. Its glory has gone off the boil. But worth recording for future years. Late June and early July was my garden at its peak. The roses were all out, the bind weed looked deliberate, I harvested plenty of perpetual spinach (a definite recommendation, grown in a pot). The honeysuckle with its beautiful yellow was complimented so well by the lavender on either side. The foxglove and the thistle at the end of the garden looked ok. And there is a delightful yellow shrub, which gets orange berries which then turn brown for winter, with such seasonal interest that it may be my favourite plant of the garden. Even the wisteria flowered, briefly.
There were (dare I say the word? ) the inevitable failures. My sixth acer started to die off. The slugs and birds appear to have eaten even the remnants of courgettes. The potatoes were not worth the hassle: I planted three kitchen bins full of soil (costing about ten pounds) and managed to get twenty pence worth of potatoes. The onions I planted too late and look like old shoe laces. The tomatoes: ditto. However, it is still early days I think.
I went to see an old friend who I hadn't seen for eighteen years at the weekend and it was like no time had passed. Of course things had occured, bad and good, for both of us, but it was so lovely hearing her tinkling laughter and reminding her of what a caring genius she was and still is.
We have been on a low fat diet. A meal last night, from a 1970s Weight-watchers cookery book which I picked up from Oxfam a few years ago, turned out to be a winner. Sustainable cod, bunged in an oven dish with some fried onion and garlic, two peppers, half a pint of skimmed milk, parsley, tomatoes and mushrooms , cooked for 25 minutes sounded dreadfully dull and too easy on paper, but tasted good. It's going on the blog I thought.
There were (dare I say the word? ) the inevitable failures. My sixth acer started to die off. The slugs and birds appear to have eaten even the remnants of courgettes. The potatoes were not worth the hassle: I planted three kitchen bins full of soil (costing about ten pounds) and managed to get twenty pence worth of potatoes. The onions I planted too late and look like old shoe laces. The tomatoes: ditto. However, it is still early days I think.
I went to see an old friend who I hadn't seen for eighteen years at the weekend and it was like no time had passed. Of course things had occured, bad and good, for both of us, but it was so lovely hearing her tinkling laughter and reminding her of what a caring genius she was and still is.
We have been on a low fat diet. A meal last night, from a 1970s Weight-watchers cookery book which I picked up from Oxfam a few years ago, turned out to be a winner. Sustainable cod, bunged in an oven dish with some fried onion and garlic, two peppers, half a pint of skimmed milk, parsley, tomatoes and mushrooms , cooked for 25 minutes sounded dreadfully dull and too easy on paper, but tasted good. It's going on the blog I thought.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Soup
Today's blog is still five minutes. Soup recipes. Fry an onion for five minutes, add garlic after three. Then depending on what type of soup you want follow these recipes:
1) leek and celery potatoes (add with stock)
2) carrot, coriander, cumin and cardomon seeds (1lb of carrots) with juice of one orange and some zest with green marigold stock)
3) parsnip.
I still have four minutes quick amazing. We have bought a pressure cooker and you literally just add whatever of those three combinations you want for fifteen minutes and a pint and a half of water. Freeze the leftovers. I'm sure there was something else in the parsnip, but can't remember. It's on here somewhere. Anyway we are eating low fat after our high fat Norfolk glamping extravanga. Husband is away, I am busy doing the MA and trying not to buy a Roomba. Labour saving device. And with Lakeland it's a lifetime guarantee. Listened to Alan Carr on Radio 2. Definitely that demographic now. 35-44. Great. Loving it. Still can't twitter or tweet, got some messages that were six months old.
1) leek and celery potatoes (add with stock)
2) carrot, coriander, cumin and cardomon seeds (1lb of carrots) with juice of one orange and some zest with green marigold stock)
3) parsnip.
I still have four minutes quick amazing. We have bought a pressure cooker and you literally just add whatever of those three combinations you want for fifteen minutes and a pint and a half of water. Freeze the leftovers. I'm sure there was something else in the parsnip, but can't remember. It's on here somewhere. Anyway we are eating low fat after our high fat Norfolk glamping extravanga. Husband is away, I am busy doing the MA and trying not to buy a Roomba. Labour saving device. And with Lakeland it's a lifetime guarantee. Listened to Alan Carr on Radio 2. Definitely that demographic now. 35-44. Great. Loving it. Still can't twitter or tweet, got some messages that were six months old.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Deer Glade Park
Dear reader, gladly parking
I have brought the timer with me. It is analogue; it never runs out of batteries. I have finished reading Wuthering Heights. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We are here and I have brought myself to tears, laughing twice. The first was the memory of how I laughed when husband discovered the "Ebay" box. This is a box, in a cupboard, of things we could sell on the famous internet auction site. I had put in it an old camping knife, with plaster and paint, old and dried, on it. It must be worth, on the open market, in good conditions, I would say ten pence. Ten new pence.
A similar thing happened today. Husband complained that there wasn't enough room in the camping fridge (powered by the sun - through a solar panel that husband loves more than most of our relations). The fridge was full of a box of wine. I suggested that we decant the wine into little wine bottles I had brought. And then fill the fridge with the carrots I had brought. Husband made me laugh. He said, " Yep, just what I fancy, a freezing cold carrot". We laughed. And the sun shone.
I have brought the timer with me. It is analogue; it never runs out of batteries. I have finished reading Wuthering Heights. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We are here and I have brought myself to tears, laughing twice. The first was the memory of how I laughed when husband discovered the "Ebay" box. This is a box, in a cupboard, of things we could sell on the famous internet auction site. I had put in it an old camping knife, with plaster and paint, old and dried, on it. It must be worth, on the open market, in good conditions, I would say ten pence. Ten new pence.
A similar thing happened today. Husband complained that there wasn't enough room in the camping fridge (powered by the sun - through a solar panel that husband loves more than most of our relations). The fridge was full of a box of wine. I suggested that we decant the wine into little wine bottles I had brought. And then fill the fridge with the carrots I had brought. Husband made me laugh. He said, " Yep, just what I fancy, a freezing cold carrot". We laughed. And the sun shone.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Wedding anniversary
Shortly before we married, in fact, probably a few days after we met, husband and I realised that we shared few similar(cheap) pastimes. More recently we discovered, quite by accident, that we both moderately enjoy costume dramas. In fact, it may be the only TV and cinema that we both can watch at all. Perhaps because of my studying I have come round to things like Pride and Prejudice. I used to think it was middle-class clap-trap. Now I realise I am middle-class. And the car got clamped. Anyway, a few people got us this sort of thing on DVD for Christmas and we've just got round to watching them all, as he's had a bit of time off work. We really loved the BBC adaptation of Bleak House. Jane Eyre. North and South. Little Dorrit. The Duchess. Husband loves watching them, one after another, like some deranged drug addict craving the next fix. I prefer a middle-class feminine break with one's fan or smelling the latest thing from one's garden.
Glog - nothing flowering at this time of year. Note to self - must get stuff that flowers in May. Esp. Clematis Montana. Planted onions day before yesterday. Courgettes prob not suitable for Leeds - too cold. Two got eaten by magpies or woodpidgeons anyway. Bought a couple of replacements from Hollinsclough flower festival. Weeding bindweed, especially at front and got quote from Which Local for tree surgeon for sycamore - 450 bazookas.
We have spent our free time visiting friends and family. Or in my case running. In husband's case spending twenty quid every 2 minutes on replacement blades for his remote control helicopter, which they keep on telling him at Maplins is the best one in the world. Not really surprising as whatever it is, he's definitely keeping them in business.
Had a lovely anniversary time with our favourite Tory friends in the South. Agreed with them on a couple of things - my memory deserts me on specifically what we agreed on, but it was pleasant nonetheless. I am going to aim for consensus everywhere, particularly on this blog, so I am employing self-censorship. Watch this space.
Had a wonderful drive a week ago in the sunshine. Huddersfield to Leek via Hollinsclough has to be up there for the best 2 hour drive in the country.
Thoroughly enjoying Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Bronte. She really is the most under-rated writer of the nineteenth century. Mum told me I had to find the evidence for this and back it up. I agreed, especially since waiving my anonymity on this blog recently. Anyway haven't bothered to do this, but it is my uninformed opinion. She is brilliant. Some little snippets - she mentions football as a late eighteenth century activity, with commoners kicking stone balls round the moors. First mention I've ever come across. 'Make it out' - was a phrase they used for 'make it up' , ie creativity. Interesting slight change of language. Anyway off to attempt to persuade husband to let me get a Roomba for the tenth time (robot hoover).
Glog - nothing flowering at this time of year. Note to self - must get stuff that flowers in May. Esp. Clematis Montana. Planted onions day before yesterday. Courgettes prob not suitable for Leeds - too cold. Two got eaten by magpies or woodpidgeons anyway. Bought a couple of replacements from Hollinsclough flower festival. Weeding bindweed, especially at front and got quote from Which Local for tree surgeon for sycamore - 450 bazookas.
We have spent our free time visiting friends and family. Or in my case running. In husband's case spending twenty quid every 2 minutes on replacement blades for his remote control helicopter, which they keep on telling him at Maplins is the best one in the world. Not really surprising as whatever it is, he's definitely keeping them in business.
Had a lovely anniversary time with our favourite Tory friends in the South. Agreed with them on a couple of things - my memory deserts me on specifically what we agreed on, but it was pleasant nonetheless. I am going to aim for consensus everywhere, particularly on this blog, so I am employing self-censorship. Watch this space.
Had a wonderful drive a week ago in the sunshine. Huddersfield to Leek via Hollinsclough has to be up there for the best 2 hour drive in the country.
Thoroughly enjoying Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte Bronte. She really is the most under-rated writer of the nineteenth century. Mum told me I had to find the evidence for this and back it up. I agreed, especially since waiving my anonymity on this blog recently. Anyway haven't bothered to do this, but it is my uninformed opinion. She is brilliant. Some little snippets - she mentions football as a late eighteenth century activity, with commoners kicking stone balls round the moors. First mention I've ever come across. 'Make it out' - was a phrase they used for 'make it up' , ie creativity. Interesting slight change of language. Anyway off to attempt to persuade husband to let me get a Roomba for the tenth time (robot hoover).
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Chapel Allerton, Gipton Wood, Howarth and Mirfield
Had a very busy day today. Listening to a radio four programme about location has made me think: people; time; place. Was out leafleting with Hope not Hate in Gipton Wood. Turns out the main organiser lives on my road so he was roping me in for more stuff to do. Then zoomed over to Howarth where Mum has rented an apartment for a week with a friend. After terrible traffic issues would you believe, we found a pub still open at 1.30 (Grim up North) and got ourselves a pub lunch. Then after a series of complicated travelling arrangements got into the centre of Howarth to torrential rain, when there was a 1940s weekend going on. Highly anachronistic.
We went into the old parsonage where the Brontes' lives are celebrated. I actually found it quite inspirational. It doesn't feel that long ago suddenly where you see the very sofa that Emily Bronte died on. It still looks brand new. I was born one hundred and thirty seven years later. To the very day. And you're walking around, creaking the floor boards as they must have done, casting your eye over the slated roof of the scullery as you're walking down the stairs, pausing to catch the time on the grandfather clock. Tick-tock, time passing by.
I hadn't realised but our alleged distant relative - Miss Margaret Wooler from Mirfield (our family were the mill owning Woolers from Mirfield - surely related?) gave Charlotte Bronte away at her wedding. Her father of course, officiated. Charlotte Bronte briefly experienced success as Jane Eyre was an instant hit, so it did feel good to see her treasured possessions: her beautiful wedding dress, bonnet and white leather gloves. And the tiny delicate handwriting as she writes to her book reviewers complaining of their ignorance. Charlotte Bronte's husband died in 1906, so her generation is only our great-great grandparents'.
A few degrees of separation in people, time and place.
We went into the old parsonage where the Brontes' lives are celebrated. I actually found it quite inspirational. It doesn't feel that long ago suddenly where you see the very sofa that Emily Bronte died on. It still looks brand new. I was born one hundred and thirty seven years later. To the very day. And you're walking around, creaking the floor boards as they must have done, casting your eye over the slated roof of the scullery as you're walking down the stairs, pausing to catch the time on the grandfather clock. Tick-tock, time passing by.
I hadn't realised but our alleged distant relative - Miss Margaret Wooler from Mirfield (our family were the mill owning Woolers from Mirfield - surely related?) gave Charlotte Bronte away at her wedding. Her father of course, officiated. Charlotte Bronte briefly experienced success as Jane Eyre was an instant hit, so it did feel good to see her treasured possessions: her beautiful wedding dress, bonnet and white leather gloves. And the tiny delicate handwriting as she writes to her book reviewers complaining of their ignorance. Charlotte Bronte's husband died in 1906, so her generation is only our great-great grandparents'.
A few degrees of separation in people, time and place.
Friday, May 15, 2009
The Tattontastic self-help book
My friend Jemima has been writing a book, that I think is going to be published soon. It's one of my dreams too. Before I met my husband I was the queen of self-help, via bibliotheraphy mainly. But also the Expert Patient Programme, which was a course that I loved. I think I would have about eleven chapters for my self-help book:
1) Prioritise - what's important for you right now?
2) What makes you tick?
3) Making incremental changes, tips for good relationships
4) Know yourself - monitor your health
5) Get all the support you need to change your life in the way you want it to go
6) Managing stress
7) Dealing with bad news
8) Symptom management
9) Financial management & complaining well
10) Careers advice
11) Dying well
1) Prioritise - what's important for you right now?
2) What makes you tick?
3) Making incremental changes, tips for good relationships
4) Know yourself - monitor your health
5) Get all the support you need to change your life in the way you want it to go
6) Managing stress
7) Dealing with bad news
8) Symptom management
9) Financial management & complaining well
10) Careers advice
11) Dying well
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Fleece, Addingham, Yorkshire
Yesterday was a glorious spring day and husband, very unusually, had a day off. Even more unusually, we decided to beat the credit crunch and go on a walk. It was meticulously planned by husband - with the purchase of a Yorkshire dales walking book, an ordnance survey map and a special pen that you can use to write on the map. He spent a good half hour plotting the route from the book on to the map. We set off and it was a marvellous walk - taking in: not only beautiful scenery, but industrial archeology, special buildings (like the seventeenth century friends meeting house), wonderful disused railway bridges, woodland with just flowering bluebells & columbines and the river Wharfe. The walk took us about three hours.
So our expectations of the pub where we had parked and set off from were pretty low. What a welcome mistake though! The Fleece is an old, eighteenth century coaching inn with benches and hanging baskets at the front. Inside, wooden panelled walls with low ceilings, a bar and a larger room for dining. We knew we had to eat there though as soon as we saw the Michelin Guide signs and whatnot in the window before we'd bought our pints. I had half a Timothy Taylor landlord (nectar) and he had a pint of Copper Dragon (even better). I really loved the pub atmosphere: great artwork, the sheep theme (of course) and lovely mid twentieth century oil portraits of middle aged middle class men - who looked like they might have founded the Ramblers Association. I even loved the chair I sat on - a carver with two tapestry panels. Husband was less impressed with a white radiator against a wooden wall. 'Why couldn't they do what Mum does and get a posh cover?', he moaned. The service: yes, was fast, but we had at least three different people serve us. To start, he had a cassoulet. Haricot beans, chicken wings and choritzo. I had chicken liver pate with a tomato, apricot and ginger chutney. Both were utterly scrumptious. You certainly don't forget you're in Yorkshire though. Huge portions - had to leave some of mine. Since he read Kitchen Confidential husband loves to 'dissect' a menu. 'It's Wednesday today, right,' he whispered 'well, they would have done a lot of roast chicken on Sunday, so plenty of left over chicken wings and chicken livers'. We didn't care. In fact we were pleased that they were not wasting any meat - when it' was so well cooked that would be criminal.
For mains hubby had pork belly, wrapped round black pudding with red cabbage. Lush. I had halibut, queen scallops with white wine sauce topped with spinach and chopped tomatoes. Delectable. Perfectly cooked halibut - so moist. And the black pudding, I think, was the best I have ever tasted. (I'm not normally a fan).
For puddings, he had cheese and biscuits. There were two crumbly local cheeses (we think - the waiting staff couldn't identify them). A most gorgeous rocquefort (we think). And served with fruit cake. Perfect. I had vanilla ice cream. The portion was too big for me and not much vanilla. Coffees were fine.
Dinner for two - sixty five quid!
The Fleece: the place where you don't get fleeced. Great food in lovely surroundings.
So our expectations of the pub where we had parked and set off from were pretty low. What a welcome mistake though! The Fleece is an old, eighteenth century coaching inn with benches and hanging baskets at the front. Inside, wooden panelled walls with low ceilings, a bar and a larger room for dining. We knew we had to eat there though as soon as we saw the Michelin Guide signs and whatnot in the window before we'd bought our pints. I had half a Timothy Taylor landlord (nectar) and he had a pint of Copper Dragon (even better). I really loved the pub atmosphere: great artwork, the sheep theme (of course) and lovely mid twentieth century oil portraits of middle aged middle class men - who looked like they might have founded the Ramblers Association. I even loved the chair I sat on - a carver with two tapestry panels. Husband was less impressed with a white radiator against a wooden wall. 'Why couldn't they do what Mum does and get a posh cover?', he moaned. The service: yes, was fast, but we had at least three different people serve us. To start, he had a cassoulet. Haricot beans, chicken wings and choritzo. I had chicken liver pate with a tomato, apricot and ginger chutney. Both were utterly scrumptious. You certainly don't forget you're in Yorkshire though. Huge portions - had to leave some of mine. Since he read Kitchen Confidential husband loves to 'dissect' a menu. 'It's Wednesday today, right,' he whispered 'well, they would have done a lot of roast chicken on Sunday, so plenty of left over chicken wings and chicken livers'. We didn't care. In fact we were pleased that they were not wasting any meat - when it' was so well cooked that would be criminal.
For mains hubby had pork belly, wrapped round black pudding with red cabbage. Lush. I had halibut, queen scallops with white wine sauce topped with spinach and chopped tomatoes. Delectable. Perfectly cooked halibut - so moist. And the black pudding, I think, was the best I have ever tasted. (I'm not normally a fan).
For puddings, he had cheese and biscuits. There were two crumbly local cheeses (we think - the waiting staff couldn't identify them). A most gorgeous rocquefort (we think). And served with fruit cake. Perfect. I had vanilla ice cream. The portion was too big for me and not much vanilla. Coffees were fine.
Dinner for two - sixty five quid!
The Fleece: the place where you don't get fleeced. Great food in lovely surroundings.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Glog, Inheritance Tax and writing an essay
To everyone who got annoyed with my suggestion that inheritance tax should be 100% for everyone: sorry not got enough time to argue with you all. Anyway. The two courgette seeds I transplanted are looking sorry for themselves. On the sunniest day of the year so far I have been stuck in writing an essay. How does oral history enrich the history of dementia?
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Kate Garraway
I was intrigued to find out precisely what offensive remarks had been put in an email from Damien McBride to Derek Draper. I looked on the internet. I wish I hadn't. Not because they were so offensive towards the Tories, but because of what I considered to be highly offensive remarks from members of the public on websites I will never, ever, ever go to ever again. Tory websites with hundreds of comments from trolls with totally right-wing, misogynist and sexist comments, not to mention offensive photographs, about Derek Draper and Kate Garraway - his partner and mother to his child/ren.
So I meditated and visualised happy things - and looked at them. Like my photos. Then I updated my blog with other stuff which cheered me up a bit. The trolls can stick this left wing blog in their pipe and smoke it. I am happy, left-wing, pretty well with lovely cats, friends and relatives. I am grateful to all the wonderful people in the world who have made my life a pleasure to live. Of course friends and relatives. But Germaine Greer, Gill George. Women from my trade union work - Jennie, Ros and Sharon. Diane Abbott. Plenty of men too of course. Heston Blumenthal. Sir George Martin, Francis Wheen, Ian Hislop, Ken Livingstone and Barack Obama. HOPE not hate. The world survived a fascist attack once before and I think we can beat it again, hopefully through more peaceful means. Through education, empathy, understanding, more education, love and forgiveness of your most detested enemy.
So I meditated and visualised happy things - and looked at them. Like my photos. Then I updated my blog with other stuff which cheered me up a bit. The trolls can stick this left wing blog in their pipe and smoke it. I am happy, left-wing, pretty well with lovely cats, friends and relatives. I am grateful to all the wonderful people in the world who have made my life a pleasure to live. Of course friends and relatives. But Germaine Greer, Gill George. Women from my trade union work - Jennie, Ros and Sharon. Diane Abbott. Plenty of men too of course. Heston Blumenthal. Sir George Martin, Francis Wheen, Ian Hislop, Ken Livingstone and Barack Obama. HOPE not hate. The world survived a fascist attack once before and I think we can beat it again, hopefully through more peaceful means. Through education, empathy, understanding, more education, love and forgiveness of your most detested enemy.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Today's glog
The garden log for today. I planted the early new potatoes in the three bins Phil bought for recycling which were made redundant by my system of depositing empty bottles in the bottle bank after every run. I didn't make any holes in them but made the drainage space quite big. Then I planted the courgette seeds on the windowsill in the pots which haven't germinated (tomatoes, poppies and some herbs haven't). I tidied up the side of the house a bit and watered the acer, mexican orange blossom and front shrubs with fertilized water. Leeds is at least three weeks colder than London - we still have the heating on. So I won't plant the non-early potatoes for another couple of weeks. Or few days. I also spliced a few dandelions and started thinking why there isn't a dandelion wine recipe on Gardener's World at this time of year - in fact anywhere. They need a wild food programme on telly. Perhaps there is one and I just haven't seen it.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Dear Joan Bakewell...
I want to write a letter to Joan Bakewell. She's been on the radio a lot in her role as ambassador for older people. Privatised care companies have finally been given the slating they deserve. But she didn't mention that home care workers do not get paid travel time. This needs to be emphasised. The other issue which is going off the boil is the public enquiry over the chaos Hewitt created as Health Secretary from 2005-07. It is no coincidence that the 400 deaths in Staffordshire not to mention preventable deaths in all the other out-in-the-sticks places like Dewsbury and Shrewsbury happened after the 15% cuts she pushed through. And nobody seems to be trying to get now-Lord Crisp (was Sir) to talk about that period. He was Chief Exec of the NHS when her and Tony Blair's reign of terror occured. Apparently Crisp signed a silence clause when he resigned in exchange for becoming His Lordship.
But I haven't written the letter. Will consult with my political guru Gill George.
Been an incredibly hectic week . New job going very well - worked Tues, Wednesday Thursday. MA going OK. Went to Chapel Allerton running club on Wednesday. Somebody said I was much faster than I was. Not sure how true that is as hadn't been for six weeks, but it felt good. Did 10k in an hour again. Still amazing to have knocked half an hour off time. Had a successful dinner party on Sat night, half hour run with A on Sunday morning and then a Leeds art gallery visit (very inspirational 'Mind the Income Gap' exhibtion) & family dinner party on Monday night, followed by 'Brian Clough night'. We watched The Damned United followed by a documentary on the man. Wednesday night (after running) had a medical leaving do. Planted some perpetual spinach which has already come up. Plenty of green shoots in my world.
But I haven't written the letter. Will consult with my political guru Gill George.
Been an incredibly hectic week . New job going very well - worked Tues, Wednesday Thursday. MA going OK. Went to Chapel Allerton running club on Wednesday. Somebody said I was much faster than I was. Not sure how true that is as hadn't been for six weeks, but it felt good. Did 10k in an hour again. Still amazing to have knocked half an hour off time. Had a successful dinner party on Sat night, half hour run with A on Sunday morning and then a Leeds art gallery visit (very inspirational 'Mind the Income Gap' exhibtion) & family dinner party on Monday night, followed by 'Brian Clough night'. We watched The Damned United followed by a documentary on the man. Wednesday night (after running) had a medical leaving do. Planted some perpetual spinach which has already come up. Plenty of green shoots in my world.
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