January 2008 Archives

Mackay came round for dinner on Friday evening. Home prepared Boston Baked Beans were served. The clincher was that the dish contained some of the home cured bacon.

This particular batch of bacon was cured for six days. Man, was it ever too salty. To think that the maximum curing time is ten days! Praise be to someone that I didn't go that far.

The dish itself was actually quite interesting. Treacly, savoury slow coooked haricot beans and onions with succulent pork. It was, as Mackay commented: "Extreme food." Extremely tragic food would have been closer to the mark.

Luckily, I know nice people who eat my food even when it's hard to do so. At least I brought out some nice wine. Penfolds Coonawarra Shiraz (on sale at Sainsburys) and a Grave that we had left from Christmas.

A five day dry cure seems to be a little too much for my needs as well, really. The next time it will be four. Okay, so it won't last as long but at least it will be a bit more edible.

Both Kirsty and Mackay seem to be into the idea of making a cold smoker in Spring. Just imagine it. Our very own home smoked bacon! Not a bad prospect at all. We just have to work out how to cut holes out of galvanised metal dustbins.

Thought for the day

Why does Dickie Greenleaf always seem like Jude Law in every role he plays?

And finally...

I came across some old footage of folk star (and ex-flatmate of my dad), Luke Kelly on Youtube. It's fairly early on and sounds fine and fresh. See what you think.

The Wine Society Rhone 2006 offer started today. At last, Kirsty and I were able order some Rostaing Cote Rotie! Six bottles of La Landonne! Mission accomplished(ish). It’s some of best Syrah coming out of the Northern Rhone . Whether we get any of the allocation of this awesome brew remains to be seen. It will be dramatically over subscribed.

Let’s put this into context here. Guigal makes concentrated, very oaky, incredibly expensive (and delicious) Cote Roties. They’re just not my cup of tea though. Eminent, though controversial, wine critic Robert Parker loves them. He usually gives them tip top marks in his reviews. Blockbuster wines sums them up well. Imagine if Lamborghini built a bulldozer and your halfway to understanding most of Guigal's premium range from the 'roasted slope'.

Rostaing’s wines are a different animal to Guigal’s. There is some use of new oak, definitely. Concentrated, elegeant and minerally, Rostaing's top Cote Rotie’s are rarely (if ever) very approachable in their youth. The man himself says that his wines are “Not for tourists". With 15 years or so for the wines to be drinking well, I would probably agree with that statement.

Let's hope we get the wine.

The power of the weather to affect my mood never ceases to amaze me. Take today. Cold rain, miserable and grey. Well, I mean. It's enough to make you want to jump off a bridge,isn't it.

Now, I know that one day we will have lovely sunshine again and I will be full of the joys of spring. It's just that May seems a little bit far away right now. Oh well.

My usual winter crutches of comfort food and booze are not currently available to me. Oh, for a warming glass of Cote Rotie on a winter's evening and, erm; could I get a large T-bone steak with that?

Here is a picture of my dad, in order to cheer things up. It's nearly a year ago since he died. The current wintery weather in London keeps on reminding me of the whole damned thing.

Friday, a shade past 5pm. Just the right time to hit Borough Market. Saturday mornings there are a little too much like middle class warfair. Your foot is run over by some four wheel drive pram whilst, simultaneously, fellow customers beat you with sharpened baguettes as a punishment for taking the last piece of an artisan, limited edition cheese made from the milk of a wild boar sow.

This week I bought some rather lovely pork belly and a leg of mutton from the Ginger Pig butchers' stand at the market. The bellies are currently dry curing in the fridge at home. Come next Saturday morning, we may well have some bacon! Oh yes.

My pork adventure may well, of course, turn out to be an unmitigated salty disaster. Never mind. You've got to try these things. Make hay while the sun shines, make bacon when the weather is dark and horrible. That's what Lord Lucan always told me.

According the bathroom 'scales of justice' I am very almost at the level of El Pauncho (see previous entry). Can 'The Tub' be reached within another week? 'probably not. Two and you may be on.

Other news. A strange thing happened today. There I was, all ready to go off swimming at the magnificent Tooting Lido, when... Flip me, Melon farmer: I couldn't find my membership card and (therefore) couldn't go. The thing that struck me was how annoyed I was about it. Surely a good sign, don't you think?

Now here's a strange thing. There I was at my sister's place this weekend when I heard The Undertones singing 'Here comes the Summer' over the stereo. My first feeling was that of discomfort. It reminded me too much of working in the hell hole that was the boozerama, Oddbins Islington Green (now a branch of the Nicholas wine emporium).

It took only a few seconds to recover from the 'Bins' flashback. Then, suddenly I remembered the bizarre chorus of the song. If anyone tells me that the chorus says something other than "Here comes Osama!" then they had better have a body of evidence.

Welcome back. It’s been a long break, full of Christmas presents food, people and wine. New year was spent at home and the next few days in Brussels. Blimey, it’s not exactly the most exciting town in the world, is it? Three days is more than enough. The Magritte House, I recommend though.

My waist size is rapidly becoming equatorial. A lifestyle change is the only solution and the first week is always the worst.

There is no shortage of diet and lifestyle change literature available. None really speak to me in my own language though. With this in mind, I’ve added up exactly how much weight I need to lose and made up a chart with ten categories. Each increment represents the loss of a few pounds in weight. Based on current progress, I am leaving The Blob and heading towards El Pauncho.

1. The Blob
2. El Pauncho
3. The Tub
4. Heavy
5. Overweight
6. Could lose a waist size
7. Could lose a few pounds
8. Okay
9. Fit & content
10. SuperSteve