Tuesday June 27, 2006

Product of the week Pilau rice seasoning

A while ago we started using a flavour cube to spice up the rice we had with certain meals. Then it stopped being sold. But good old Schwartz came to the rescue - not Jonathan. This makes rice nice and tasty and is a lot easier when time is short than making the proper stuff

Wednesday June 21, 2006

He is back!

Having penned a new deal with Channel4 it is good to see Gordon Ramsey already back with another series of the Fword . It is I think one of the better food shows on UK TV nowadays. However viewers will be interested to know he is keeping pigs in his back garden in this new series. Now after last years final show there was a load of fuss as the slaughter of his turkeys was shown as it happens. I don't think even Gordon will show the slaughter of one of his pigs...

Tuesday June 06, 2006

Amarilus a Christmas flower on show in the early summer..

We have had this specimen of Amarilus for several years. For whatever reason it has only flowered once during Christmas. Sccne then it flowers at what seem like random times of the year. I suspect most people when they get these as presents set them up, watch them flower then throw them away. Despite the off timing of flowering they are dead easy to look after. After the flowers die off all you need to do is keep the bulb moist in its pot and in a cool place and shady place. Eventually perhaps sooner than a year later it will flower again. Ours has over the year produced baby plants that produce their own shoots near the existing bulb. When this happens I gently take the bulb out of the pot, tease the baby bulbs away from their parent and set them up in their own pot. You will have to wait several years before they are big enough to produce their own flower - but they would make a perfect gift! You should of course renew the compost every few years or so. The odd thing about this years flowering is the length of the stalk is really much shorter than usual.

Friday May 26, 2006

Come on England

Spotted this flying over our house last night. I am not a football fan but I wish our team well and say "Come on England - don't loose your nerve when you are faced with a penalty shoot out.."

Thursday May 18, 2006

The best restaurant in Berkshire?

There must be something special about the name Royal Oak. I have written about my local pub which is now a main entry in the Good pub guide . Well the other night we visited another Royal Oak pub this one in nearby Knowl Hill that is just outside Maidenhead on the A4 road. The pub is by the church but hidden up a side road. A Frenchman runs the place and is also the chef. His name is Franck Chauvin. The trouble is because of its hidden location he is not filling the place - it was only half full on Saturday night. He must have a very friendly bank manager. I had Mussles in a white wine sauce 4.25 with loads of bread to soak up the sauce. My wife then had the duck with a rich red sauce - loads of duck 14.25. I had the sea bass - two fillets with a beurre blanc sauce 14.25. We finished with the cheese and biscuits 5.75. house red wine 11.50 which was very good and I started with a pint of London Pride. It gets even better. From Tuesday to Thursday ( in an effort to build up trade) he is doing s slightly restricted menu for two people, two courses and a bottle of his house wine for twenty pounds, thats not each - that is the total bill. He has a lovely New Zealand waitress helping him, who is doing her bit to make the place as good as it is. I rate it as good as anything in this county. It would be a crying shame if he went under. I will be doing my bit to make sure that does not happen.

Tuesday May 16, 2006

Beanz meanz Chilli, Thai and Mexican...

While shopping in our local supermarket I walked past the aisle with beans in tomato sauce. The varieties of them seemed to have grown and a closer look showed that Heinz Heinz have produced new varieties – Sweet Chilli, Mexican and Thai. The Sweet Chilli and Mexican taste the same with the Mexican the preferred out of the two. The Thai one was ok not much Thai flavour. I think you can do better than these and add your own spices and save some money too.

Wednesday April 12, 2006

A different Peter Robinson book.

One of Peter Robinson's old books has been reprinted. He wrote it after he had written four of the Inspector Banks books. This unrelated one off book is called Caedmons Song Each chapter written from two peoples perspective. The first person is a student savagely attacked called Kirsten and takes you from the night of the attack right up to the start of the second person's story in the book. Martha is person number two who is visiting Whitby to track down somebody. I won't spoil the story in case anyone reads these books but at the end the book is left at a good place leaving you to decide on what happens next. The title of the book is in fact a very good clue on why Martha visits Whitby in the first place.

Tuesday March 28, 2006

Saturday kitchen

This program is not the only day I find myself in our kitchen but a TV program I watch while having a nice slow relaxing start to the first day of the weekend. Anthony Worrall Thompson is the main presenter and he usually has two chef guests. They have a competition where each presents a recipe that can do and voters have to decide which they want to see cooked. The two guests also cook another recipe usually seasonal or related to their own individual specialist cooking. The program also has a wine expert who tells us about special offers or half decent wines we ought to consider. Thankfully they don't go in for expensive ones. The show is also peppered with ten/fifteen minute clips from various cookery programs featuring other chefs. There is also time for a q+a session where people can ask questions etc. So all in all its not a bad program. I find it interesting that AWT is currently doing a diet series as he is rather big and clearly enjoys his food.

Wednesday March 15, 2006

Are we getting like the French ?

The other week I was in a meeting in the UK. Before the meeting got started several people started giving each other a peck on each side of their faces French style. I found this rather odd, I have never seen this behaviour in the UK before at a business meeting. I suppose I was also rather miffed as I got missed out.

I wonder wether the age old rivalry between us and the French folks is finally swinging in their favour? We all use lots of garlic in our food now and they must be held responsible for getting us into wine drinking - although it has to be said I favour the Chilean reds to the French stuff. We also seem to be buying a lot of their cars now. Where will this madness end? Will I come home to frogs legs on the dinner table?

Thursday March 02, 2006

Anyone got a good Duck recipe ?

I have a frozen duck in the freezer. The plan is to cook it this weekend. Neither of us are keen on cherries but the classic duck with Orange sauce is a strong possibility. Anybody got any tried and tested ideas ? Recipes that I have tried from our own books have been ok but not as good as I hoped for..

Friday February 24, 2006

A few days in Madrid

I was lucky to spend a few days in Madrid the capital of Spain this week. It was a visit to our lab there in one of the Sun buildings. It was a respectable short hop from London to Madrid - two hours flight. I stayed in a hotel near the campus a short walk up the hill from it. To get into the campus buildings before you even use your Sun security pass you need a campus pass. I just about managed to get one of these without resorting to my terrible Spanish . I soon discovered this was a temporary pass and to make matters worse it only allowed one entry and exit to one building. So as I was working between buildings I had to keep popping to the kiosk by the main gate to get a pass. Eventually this took a turn for the worst and the pass would not me exit the building. I jumped the gate and headed out of the campus. My criminal efforts had clearly been caught on film and a security guard swaggered towards me in a very annoyed mood. We managed with the aid of one one the female kiosk attendants to calm him down and eventually secured me a improved pass - with unlimited uses on the promise I return it. Their hot drinks are very sweet. Even with the sugar level turned to minimum the sweetness factor was too much too bear. Eventually I managed to persuade the nearest Starbucks to sell me tea with cold milk not warm and frothed up. As usual my roaming session on our Sunray server worked a treat. My only problem was the keyboard. On the continent the / ? @ and other metacharacters are in very odd places...

Although I have been to Spain as a tourist it is a different proposition on your own. You do not have someone to keep an eye on you and evenings can be a bit tedious especially after you have completed the only book you bought with you. The work I went there for was to meet the users of the lab and encourage them to use our global resources to meet their needs. Change Management can be a challenge but I think the meetings with both users of the lab and their managers went well. My final night I decided at my own expense to take a trip downtown. I got a map from the hotel and took a cab into the centre. I was dropped off by Plaza Mayor where there is a big square around which are a series of buildings encircling the it. All sorts of cafe's were in these buildings on the inside facing the square. I then had a good old wander round the area and did my best to navigate to the Almudena Cethderal. It is a lovely long building with a park which closed as it was dark now. I was kicking myself for not having bought my IXUS digital camera. I then walked a bit more and as it was raining slightly took a cab back to the hotel passing impressive sights such as Palacio De Comunicaciones Puerta De Alcala and much more that I could not identify at the time. The last day when I woke snow was falling onto the city. I worked a half day before heading back to the airport using the new terminal building that has just opened. A very nice city, very friendly citizens worth a visit back as a tourist I think. I was amazed how cold it was; it was about the same temperature as London, five degrees Centigrade. It is at least forty in the summer.

Steamer product of the week

I think there is the chance the steam cooker is going to be like a lot of alternative cooking devices - used for a few niche uses but never going mainstream. The Chinese have been using steamers for at least 5,000 years so nothing new there. We use ours for cooking vegetables which leaves them nice and crisp. The 'stacked' food bays mean you can put different vegetables in each bay and add each onto the steamer to get the cooking time just perfect. We also use it for cooking chicken and fish before adding to salads, sauces etc. It also collects water used in the cooking process which is infused with the juices from what was cooking so you can use it for stocks etc later on.

Wednesday February 22, 2006

Tip of the week a simple remedy to spilt red wine

Is to sprinkle the affected area with salt. Give it a good coating and leave it overnight. In the morning shake the salt off and the red wine stain should have gone away. Works on clothes, carpets etc.

Wednesday February 15, 2006

Common sense from the House of Commons...

This will save lives.

Friday February 10, 2006

Sunday lunch

At home with my parents the Sunday lunch was a regular meal we had every week of the year. Now in our home I suppose we have it every month but never in the summer. Typically we have a leg of lamb or a chicken. There is a lot of concern over cooking a roast but it is not the hard to do. For the lamb I make small slits in the meat and pop small slivers of garlic in them. I also have a large sprig ofrosemary held against the joint (with string etc). You also need to cover the meat with foil during the cooking to avoid getting a dried black lump of meat. We follow the Delia twenty minutes a pound plus twenty extra ( the time it takes to get the cooking going) but of course you need to make sure the meat is cooked especially with poultry. Put a skewer in the meat and the juices should run clear. The thing about roasts is preparation. We get all the vegetables ready beforehand. Roast potatoes are not hard. I have found Goose fat works very well but any oil will work. You need to part boil the potatoes first, for say five minutes to soften the outside of the potato. You need a strong metal flat dish, oil goes in that just to cover the metal surface. Pre heat it before putting the potatoes in it. After the five minutes softening up time is over, drain the water - use for gravy later on; put the lid back on and shake the pan to roughen up the outside of the potatoes. Pop into the oil and baste well. I think they will need an hour. I usually put the temperature up at this point but move the meat to a lower part of the oven. After twenty minutes pull the potatoes out and turn them over. They should be brown on the surface that was facing down. Once the meat is ready take it out and let it relax. This lets the internal juices distribute themselves in the meat so it is not dry. Leave the foil on it to keep it warm. Once the potatoes are ready take them out of the oil, and put on a grill pan with paper towel on it to drain off the excess fat. I now cook the vegetables in a steamer. I never bother making proper gravy and a tablespoon of Bisto into the stock from the potatoes works well.