Posted by pop at Nov 7, 07 01:10 AM
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I have never seen such a vast Steamer Trading in my life. Mostly this meant a huge variety of stock, but it also meant there was space to swing a cat, which is often what is missing in this chain.
I gawped at the Marimekko, the Norman of Copenhagen, the Alessi and Gaggia...but came away with a non-stick milk pan, a heartshaped cookie cutter and a non-stick tart thing. Oh well, next time maybe...
image courtesy of Steamer Trading, bless 'em
Posted by pop at Nov 7, 07 12:22 AM
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Today we decided to go to Horsham, as it is close, and we fancied a wander around. Parked in the Swan Lane carpark (shudder) and wandered through a lack luster shopping centre and onto the streets of Horsham.
During the drive from Dorking we predicted that it would be like a cross between Farnborough and Farnham, and I guess we weren't far off. Though nothing could prepare us for the most obscence piece of sculpture I have ever laid eyes on. Angela Conner's Shelley memorial, "Rising Universe" (as in the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley) consists of a giant metallic globe with a bronze shell as a water feature with four revolving baby globes surrounding it. To our horror it is capable of suddenly rising on a plinth and gushing water out of its undercarriage, like an incontinent horsechestnut. It makes Woking's Martian look positively adorable. I've read that it was before its time when installed in 1996, and now I'd say its had its time.
Anyhow, back to the food bit. We spotted the most adorable little shop called Town & Country Weigh, which was full of jars and bags of interesting bits and bobs - herbs, spices, jars of condiments, curry pastes, old fashioned sweets (do you remember 'winter mix'?). Here I found the best thing anyone could buy for £2.30 - a giant bottle (we are talking trade-size) of sweet chilli sauce...the evidence speaks for itself, next to a large pinneapple:-
Isn't it magnificent?
The place was run by an Italian guy who apologised for the creaky floor (the tradesmen hadn't put down underlay under the squeak).
Posted by pop at Aug 3, 07 06:50 PM
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Pret has been my reliable lunch friend (I have no real lunch friends) for a few months since moving to S. Ken to work. We've had our ups and downs (mostly ups) but at least I know (or I think I know):-
* that the food is fresh and not badly treated (no beaten lettuces or flogged duck breast)
* that I'm not giving my money to flaming Tescos, who I mildly detest (but still use occasionally - how pathetic am I?)
* that I can get my food and pay for it within about 20 seconds
* that it gets me out of my office and gives my pins some exercise (p.s. pins is probably not the right word for them)
That being said, I did have the urge to complain when a friendly server started putting my sandwich and drink into a big plastic Pret bag, and I said,"don't worry I don't need a bag" (how bloody green am I?) and he left the food in there and told me that I "could always throw the bag away"...tosser.
This lightly enraged me and I complained via the Pret website after checking their environmental policy and knowing that that looser was not being a good Pret employee, I chose the option to not be grovelled to and let them sort it out".
Well, its seems to have worked, not once since then have I been forced to take another plastic bag.
Posted by pop at Aug 29, 05 11:26 PM
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After reading about my friend Noo's interview and the subsequent article in the Sunday Times by Lesley Thomas, I decided to break rank further (letting down womanhood by making things and being creative - so sorry Lesley!). Today, I made my first Jam (above).
Every year we have a (small) crop of plums from the tree in our garden. Each year we do something different with them. This year was the turn of plum and pimms sorbet and some jam.
I rushed around town hunting down the various bits and bobs needed to make jam (jars, waxed paper discs, plastic covers and elastic bands, jam sugar*), and suddenly realised that the bread maker, can also make jam! Hooray, I will get my money's worth:)
*Tate & Lyle's Jam Sugar is "tested and approved by the National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI).
We tasted the goo before it was jarred-up, and it did taste rather nice. Fingers crossed it will set properly.
Posted by pop at Jun 8, 05 11:31 PM
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I've changed my mind about those Turner sandwiches, last week I bought an egg and sausage one - and to my horror, found egg-shell in it (hmmm, crunchy!!!!). I pondered...'why hasn't this happened to me before in my lifetime of egg eating?'...Surely it is quite easy for the manufacturer of egg-products to get shell in the egg (after all, it happens to me all of the time when I cook)?!
If I had grown up never having eaten an egg, I suspect that I might not be eating them now - I'm a bit fussy like that, I don't do offal or bits of meat that are less than 99% pure muscle. I spent three years dissecting bits and bobs at University, and I don't like having to do it on my plate.
At the saturday market in Ravel (nr Toulouse), you could buy eggs from old women. To prove that the eggs were 'real' and were laid by a good bird-friend of theirs, they brought them along; either crammed in small cages together, tied together by their feet and laying in a heap, or in one instance, a goose in a bag like that you would find oranges in, in Sainsburys - sort of netting. Nice. I wonder what it would take before I went veggy...?
Over and oeuf!
Posted by pop at May 12, 05 11:32 PM
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Brian Turner is that irritating chef that used to be This Morning with Richard & Judy, you know...the one that used to get on Richard's wick by flirting with Judy. Well, he has got himself a sandwich line.
I chose the Ham Salad with Whole Grained Mustard on white bread. I was displeased that it was on white, but what can I do when it's the only sandwich in the whole shop that does not contain mayonnaise and or prawns?!
Verdict: apart from the whiteness of the bread, the ham was fine and the salad was turgid, the mustard was pleasant enough.
p.s. What is this obsession with mayonnaise, do they think that it's impossible to swallow the sandwich otherwise?
