Category Archives: foodfoodfood

sunday bits-and-bobs

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I am messing about with something that has been on the backburner (but in the plans) for some time. And it is quite exciting. Even if it will take some effort and a bit of time. And it incorporates all (or most) of the things I love.

So all good. And hopefully fun, informative and will keep me out of trouble.

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As I am doing my bits and pieces I am watching Jamie’s American Road Trip. And it is fascinating. And sobering. And humbling. I am currently watching a chap, once an illegal immigrant, who, after a full day’s work cooks for and feeds 80 odd homeless illegal immigrants in New York City. Every single day. Humbling.

The food itself, local or immigrant, is amazing. And supper-clubs? Cool. Want to try one.

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Of course, one of the things I am getting from this is the urge to travel and eat food and see the sights and meet people and take photographs and…

On which note, I have been following for some time, on Facebook in particular, somebody who gave up corporate life to travel the US (where she’s from) in a van with her dog. Alison Turner’s photographs are truly lovely. You can find her main website here and her travelesque blog here.

***

I’m still watching Jamie and I am wondering why on earth we don’t celebrate food and street-food like most other nations?

bristol half marathon 2011

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The half-marathon yesterday was fun. As ever it was well organised (although we were unsure as to where we were supposed to join the ‘queue’ to get in the pens). The atmosphere and support was excellent although the ‘tacked on’ bit from St Mary Redcliffe to Baldwin Street felt like it was only there to get the mileage with very few people were there.

All in all though, a good day out, a lovely run out along the Portway and back, with very friendly runners making the atmosphere better than expected. The camaraderie before, on the run and afterwards was excellent.

...waiting...

I ran the race with Emma, as it was her first, and she ran it very well indeed, even if the pace was higher than she wanted. Simon joined us at the beginning (having worked out where we were from the big screen), before eventually disappearing off at mile 9. We had a great time running together, chatting and laughing and cheering on friends (Matt and Jo, for instance).

medals, medals, everywhere

The reward… a lovely roast dinner at Start the Bus, coffee and cake at Jacqui and Monty’s and then pizza back home.

Oh, and this was rather nice too.

this and that, and maybe the other…

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You’ve been getting a dearth of posts from me, so apologies for that. Another catchup post…

***

This week I went to see the thing we (the company I work for) are building and it is… immense. Immense in a way that is easy to comprehend intellectually yet blows you away when you see it in the ‘flesh’. And that was only a bit that I was seeing. There were lots more bits to be built and it will be very impressive indeed.

I didn’t think I would ever say this sincerely, but to be part of the team building it; even if only as a change manager during the design stage, is something I am proud of. Great stuff.

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One of my ambitions since I started running has been to run from Bath Spa Station (well, the bicycle park nearby) to my front door in Bristol. Today, 15.5 miles later, I did it, running every step of the way. It was HARD. And yet it was only so towards the end. Everything was pretty comfortable until mile 11, and it got progressively harder from then, and the last mile and a half was hell. It was warmer than I anticipated, and I didn’t prepare quite as well as I should have done, but I still did it.

Lessons learnt? My water bladder sloshed with every step for all 15.5 miles. That was moderately irritating. And my Mizunos are great for short to medium length runs, but played hell with my little toes after mile 11. And my small backpack isn’t as comfortable as it could be. I also tried out Runkeeper’s Live Tracking feature (E did anyway) and it was very cool indeed.

The closer I get to running 26.2 miles, the more I realise that I have it in me to do the distance, and the more I realise how bloody hard it is. Today thousands of people ran 26.2 miles in the Virgin London Marathon and my respect for them has, if anything, grown.

Click on the picture below for the lowdown (Runkeeper).

***

I saw, and very nearly bought it. In truth, if I had had access to a car… because it weighed a tonne.

£20. Bargain.

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I like Marmite. There, I said it. I love it.

Recipe 1:

Hot buttered toast. Spread marmite to the depth and intensity you like. Spread crunchy peanut butter over the marmite, to taste. Enjoy.

Recipe 2:

Take two crumpets. Toast. Toast again until they are slightly crunchy on the outside. Liberally spread with butter. Liberally spread with marmite. If, when you lift the crumpet, there is a slight pool of butter and marmite underneath, it’s done. Enjoy.

Recipe 3:

Butter two slices of bread. Spread marmite on both slices. Layer lettuce on one of the slices of bread. Spread salad cream on the other slice and place on the lettuce, making a lovely marmite, lettuce and salad cream sandwich. Enjoy.

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I have been looking at fonts for my tattoo, and, well, it is a lot harder than I expected. I want some thing slightly italic, somewhere between a copperplate and a handwritten flowy… well, you get the picture. I am struggling to find something that grabs me though. And I need to find a very good tattooist in the Bristol too.

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I’ve recently ripped through (reading) the Chanur series by CJ Cherryh, which is one of my favourite science-fiction series of all time. I am currently re-reading Alistair Reynold‘s Revelation Space series and thoroughly enjoying it. I am also reading The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer, which is a bloody good read so far.

NaNoWriMo T – 7 days…

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I don’t quite know how it happened, but it appears that the lovely Gail (@1mgoldstars) has agreed to reward the equally lovely Robyn (@orbyn) and myself with caramel popcorn and cake (respectively) whenever we complete 10,000 words in NaNoWriMo. That’s five lots of caramel popcorn/cake. All for a mention in the Acknowledgements.

Awesome (assuming she is being serious).

Better write and get this book published then…

Oh yes. Did some more background work, idea meddling, character creation. Getting there.

Cake!

Ahem.

sunday odds and…

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At the moment I am finding it quite difficult to concentrate on writing (things going on) and the blog in particular, hence the rise of this more snippety kind of post…

***

I finally, after a couple of years of intent, joined the Thali Cafe‘s tiffin club. And it is bloody marvellous. The food was plentiful (fish curry, spicy dhal, tasty rice and a weird little veggie salad thingy) and incredibly more-ish and more than enough for two people. Delicious and inexpensive when you consider refills are only £6-7.50, depending upon the type of meal chosen. Joining the Tiffin Club itself is only £22.50, and this includes your first meal (and gives you ownership of a very pretty set of metal tiffin pots too).

The Thali Cafe can be found in Totterdown, Clifton, Montpelier and Easton. The atmosphere is invariably relaxed and the food amazingly good value.

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Having joined Thea Gilmore‘s Angels in the Abattoir project last year (and finding it worth every penny of the £52 it cost me) I have also joined Liz William‘s short story experiment, in which, depending upon the level of commitment chosen, she will send you from 4 to 12 short stories over the year, for the princely sum of £18 to £50. Subscriptions run for two years (from what I can work out) and are limited in number.

I have received the first three short stories and will be reading over the next week. More on this when I have done so.

Thea Gilmore’s approach is very much an experiment in direct contact with her fans, and the ‘package’ is designed to add value over and above the simple purchase of a cd or iTunes download. Liz Williams’ effort is much more of a direct sales approach, with the limited number of subscriptions adding rarity ‘value’ whilst keeping the overhead of managing these at a reasonable level (both artists take the time to be personal in their approach, as much as they can be).

I do wonder whether there will come a time, if this model explodes, where we will see eBay auctions for virtual, authentic and rare ‘subscription certificates’ to well known authors, musicians and artists. Interesting…

***

Breakfast this morning has been the remnants of yesterday’s bag of Jelly Babies. No, I’m not proud of myself at all.

***

A number of things have arisen of late where I have had to think about fatherhood and the idea of having children (no, I am not about to have a child nor am I planning to); I am still pretty much convinced that my choice is the right one so far.

Okay, the significant change there is the so far bit. I am well aware that things change, and having pontificated at length on the flexibility of change and life choice off-line, I realise that just because a decision or choice is the way it is now, doesn’t mean it cannot change in the future. Life has a nasty (or blessed) habit of throwing a curve ball and when it does you have to re-evaluate your choices based on the situation and principles at hand, rather than stubbornly adhering to a possibly outdated and less self-aware decision.

I spent yesterday with my mum, brother, sister-in-law and the two nephews (and small jug). It was bedlam. I can see and understand that having children and raising them is no mean feat, but gods, I don’t know it. And I am quite happy with that shallowness of knowledge, to some extent.

My hat off to those of you who have done and are doing it. ’tis a brave and crazy thing you do, and best of luck with it.

***

I am quite particular and opinionated about books, and a brief conversation with Emily last night highlighted this. I love reading and I love books. I love people’s writing but I can be a bit snotty about the quality of writing and storytelling contained within a book (this in no way contradicts my occasional penchant for horribly written pulp fiction, okay, it does).

I do not like the Brontes, the Austens and I dropped GCSE English Literature like a hot stone after reading the first couple of pages of Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd. Heathen as it may be, I just don’t like these classics and making me read them will only get me as grumpy as the time I was made to read Dan Brown.

On the flip side I do love the ancient classics; Aristophanes and Ovid and Euripides are great, and Fagle’s translations of the Homeric epics the Odysseus and the Iliad are just fantastic. Moving forward through time, Dumas’ the Count of Monte Cristo and the Three Musketeers are true classics, as is, indisputably, Cervante’s Don Quixote. Of course there are non-European epics/classics I like as well, such as Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en and the massive and intimidating Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata (although to be perfectly honest I only really ever watched the latter on television).

I just have a real blind spot when it comes to Hardy, Austen et al (and this goes for worthy Russians such as Dostoyevsky and Chekov). Perhaps time will change my mind.

***

Mini-recommendations:

Sustrans is a cycling charity set up to promote cycling in the UK and they have been instrumental in the massive growth in the National Cycle Network. They do lots of good stuff at all levels of the community and if you are into cycling in any way you should consider joining. They also have some great helmets in their shop (ahem).

I have just recently picked up a copy of Dario Mitidieri’s Children of Bombay. The pictures are stunning, heartbreaking, emotive, brutal and observationally astute. The photography is superb. Go and find it.

The universe. I really like it. Despite all it’s odd bits; dark matter (confusing), exploding suns, life, incomprehensibility and unimaginable vastness and minute complexity, it has it’s good points too. Just look around, you’ll see examples of both. Love it.

tuesday

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It has been a good couple of weeks. Lots of stuff has happened, and I seem to have found my ’centre’ again. Karma, Fate and Serendipidity  have deemed to involve themselves and throw me into the midst of a situation most wonderful and intriguing and exciting (more about that, maybe, at some point). Goals that were beginning to look ominously difficult are suddenly looking achievable and realistic. The writing is coming on and cake never tasted better.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am happy. And that feels good.

***

The @NaNoWriMo twitter account tweeted yesterday that there were ‘only’ 98 days to go until NaNoWriMo. Last year I met a whole bunch of rather wonderful writers and scribblers through NaNo, and other than the fact that I ‘won’ the challenge, this is my favourite thing about the event.

Writing is a solitary activity, and yet Twitter and NaNo have managed to make this much less so. As I blogged during last year’s endeavours, the support, friendship and patience shown by fellow NaNoers was immense and was instrumental in getting me through. The encouragement given by the team running the challenge was incredible, as was their energy, and the gee-ups from the numerous professional high-profile writers and authors did much to keep us going.

I am going do it again this year, and this time I will attend the bi-weekly writing events, hopefully to catch up and meet some of my fellow challengees. Apparently I was quite grumpy at times last year, this time I will make a concious effort to chill out and enjoy the process (I did last time, but oh boy, I did get a tad stressed occasionally). If I had the time and money I would even fly out to San Francisco for the Night of Writing Dangerously. That would be awesome.

I am even seriously thinking about appling for the Municipal Liason position for either Wiltshire or Exeter and Devon, although both are a little out of my way. Or in India, because I could always do with a month in India.

So I have 97 days to come up with a plot line, characters and a world to base them in. Shouldn’t be too hard… should it?

***

I’ve just received an email from my mother, addressed to the whole clan, regarding land and tax issues to do with property in the homeland. It clearly lays out the issues and liabilities, calculations, historical situation and ends with options for moving forward. It is concise, clearly and well written and very easy to follow.

It is at times like this  that I realise that I don’t really know my mum that well at all.

***

Yesterday I ran home from work. Today I did it again. It doesn’t sound like much, roughly 4.7 miles with some up and down. But I enjoyed it, thoroughly.

Oddly this has been a little milestone of mine, being able to do this. And I did it.

On Sunday the thought of the route home felt long and unknown and scary. Yesterday I discovered that it wasn’t. The distance had shrunk, the effort needed wasn’t as intense as expected, the time needed not much more than my normal journey.

Today it was smoother, easier, not at all intimidating. Each step was a step already taken, familiar. The environment was known, the expectations set. Even accounting for the couple of minutes wasted yesterday on slight detours I still managed to take three minutes off of my time.

I ache, and my knee is a little sore but I still feel like I could go for a run right now. I want to go for a run. I am going for a bike ride tomorrow and all I can think about is going for a run instead.

Its odd, but finally, I think, I am beginning to understand where I fit in with this thing called running.

***

Mini-recommendations:

Cafe Maitreya is considered one of the best organic vegetarian places in Bristol, and deservedly so. The food is fresh, inventive and tasty. Mmm. Or, as we like to say on Twitter, #nom.

Travels on My Elephant by Mark Shand remains one of my favourite travelogues. Very much of its time it charts Shand’s 800 mile journey through India, and his developing relationship with Tara, his elephant. Funny, moving, insightful and full of character, it well portrays the romanticism of India against the dying embers of its colonial past. It is, at heart, a love story and is well worth seeking out and reading.

Amanda Palmer‘s Who Killed Amanda Palmer? [Alternate Tracks] is hugely enjoyable. I am not sure how you describe her music, it is tagged as baroque-pop and punk-cabaret, both of which seem apt. Its dark and playful and soulful and quite strange, but I like it. I am particularly taken with Runs in the Family and Blake Says.

odds and … ii

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Sorry, another odds and sods post, mainly because I haven’t had time to write a more fully fledged post.

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Every now and then, scanning through the various bits of information afforded me by WordPress, I have a look at the search terms that lead to my blog. Other than the odd bizarre combination of words, there really hasn’t been anything of note.

Over the last few weeks though I have noticed a particular trend, and have kept an eye on it. Fulfilling anything from 25% to 50% of the search terms leading to my blog are variants on “life full regrets”, leading to this post.

I am not sure what this says really, speculative speculation leads me to wondering if there is a pandemic of regret going on currently (one could say it is and always has been) or a paucity of blog posts on the subject (hard to believe) or it doesn’t say anything at all (probably).

***

On Eyoki’s (@Eyoki) recommendation I purchased “Snow And Summers” by Solveig von Schoultz (read Eyoki’s superb review here). A little while ago I also bought “Ways of Returning” by Linda Saunders.  Other than the superb poetry, both books contained unexpected treasures:

I absolutely love this sort of thing. Snow and Summer contains the scribbled notes of a previous owner’s journey to Reyjkavik, with all its attendant horrors. Ways of Returning contains a lovely letter from the author to the recipient.

As you may know I am a huge fan of the scribbled inscriptions and dedications that you often find inside the covers of books. No matter how tenuous, they give me a sense of connection and (occasionally) insight into the owners. I find these little snippets of life as rich and important as the books themselves and have occasionally purchased a book on the basis of this alone.

***

Years ago, before the Bristol Bookbarn became a sad media spectacle upon its closure I came across several hardback classic science fiction and fantasy books, scattered within the disorganised and incomprehensible system that the BB used. After further investigation I found more, each with a carefully inscribed name (one I sadly cannot remember) and the date of ownership, and nothing more. And there were hundreds of them. I was left with an indescribable sense of sadness, as this was obviously the lifetime collection of someone who had recently (?) passed away, with all that love and pride and effort disposed off in one fell swoop. Had I the money I would have bought as many as I could find, in a futile and foolish attempt to preserve this collection. I wish I had done so regardless.

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Mini-recommendations:

Sainsbury’s Ethiopian Sidamo ground coffee is a current favourite; lovely, rich and not overly bitter.

demuth’s in Bath is a very nice vegetarian restaurant indeed. Great food, full of flavour and very light, using fresh local ingredients. Yummy.

Eyoki’s blog is another firm favourite. I never fail to come away have thinking about something in a different way, having learnt something new and outside of my immediate sphere of interest. Go and read.

Today I am visiting Lacock and Lacock Abbey, an architecturally fantastic place, lovely in the summer, and the ‘birth-place’ of photography, being Fox-Talbot’s residence.

odds and …

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I have spent the last few days listening to Zoe Keating‘s excellent new
album, Into the Trees. Ms Keating is well known as a cellist of high ability
and innovative creativity, and I found that this album more than cements
this reputation. I already know that this is the perfect writing album for
me, with each track seeming to represent different thematic and emotional
motifs.

I used to live with a cellist and there are few instruments that so readily
reach into me and seem to ‘fill’ me with their sound. Skilfully played the
cello reverberates and echoes emotion with a sincerity and depth that is
both resonant and moving. Definitely one of my favourite instruments to listen to.

***

Last night’s (well, tonight, this is being posted in the a.m.) run was pretty disastrous, especially as the run the night before was one of my best ever. It was incredibly hard work after the first half a mile and I only managed to run 2 of the target 4 miles before my legs gave out.

I can pinpoint several factors; I am eating and sleeping very badly at the moment and I need to get a handle on these two things pretty quickly to give me the best chance of meeting this challenge. The other contributing factor is that I am used to running twice a week, so hammering two on the trot in the first week was always going to be hard. We shall see what happens in Friday (tomorrow), especially as I meant to be playing badminton today (yay!).

***

I had forgotten how delicious capers are. Yum.

borough market, london

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One of the main issues I have with Bristol is the lack of a good food market with a real depth and breadth of choice. The Farmers’ Market on Corn Street (Wednesdays) and the excellent Tobacco Factory Market (Sundays) are the only two that I know of.

Bristol is well-regarded as a foodies’ haven, with excellent restaurants, cafes, food festivals and an abundance of good quality local produce. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to have the depth of population to support a larger more permanent food market.

I visited Borough Market on Saturday and was pretty much blown away by the range of foodstuffs on offer (even if it was a little over-priced). The place was heaving with customers, tourists and photographers alike, all dipping their fingers towards many a taster dish or plate.

The place was buzzing, full of life and character, and the quality of the food on offer was fantastic. Definitely a place that I would love to live near, were I to live in London, although I would probably have to leave my wallet at home.

japanese food, london

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Yesterday evening Philly dragged me from the National Portrait gallery into the rain, promising me a fantastic Japanese meal in a what would turn out to be a nameless little cafe just off soho.

Inside people queued at the front desk, ordering their food from laminated menus pasted to the walls and the counter, the staff taking orders and cash (no cards here) both with good cheer. It was busy, a nice mix of clientèle slurping from great bowls of noodle soup or daintily dipping sushi into soy sauce.

We ordered the gyoza (pork dumpling) rice set meal, california rolls and green tea, the combined total outlay coming to a more than reasonable £8 each.

Sitting ourselves down at the almost retro laminate tables I furtively glanced at the table next to us, the smell of the dishes being consumed awaking further an already ravenous hunger.

The green tea arrived moments later, followed by small bowls of delicious miso soup; tiny delicate cubes of tofu floating gently with finely chopped spring onions. Almost without pause bowls of sticky rice and plates with six fat pork dumplings on each appeared in front of us. Complimented by the chilli oil and soy sauce poured from little pottery ‘teapots’ these were demolished with gusto, the flavours perfectly balanced. The california rolls arrived half way through this, and were equally delicious, the wasabi paste and pickled ginger enhancing the rolls of rice, tuna and cucumber.

The slightly bitter overstrong remains of the green tea helped cut through a meal that was delicious, quick and incredibly well valued. This sort of anonymous establishment is the sort of place I love, and part of me is thankful that we don’t have a similar place in Bristol. Only part of me, that is.

Location details to come (I was incredibly lost by the time we got there) when and if I discover them.