999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 22, 2019 12:55:03 GMT
If I have a most-hated food it would probably be beetroot. I'm of the age that I grew up experiencing those horrible 70s institutional salads that had a half of greying boiled egg, dessicated shreds of carrot and made you want to suspend a hammock between the salt and pepper shakers for the limp tired lettuce. And there'd always be one or two slices of the dreaded beetroot, the texture of which managed to be freakily both soft and hard, and one single molecule of which would horribly dye all the other items on the plate and everything within a five-mile radius that unearthly potassium permanganate colour. It hits a hat-trick or horribleness in looking, smelling and tasting revolting. It's now of course a very in-vogue ingredient and gets roasted up and included in lots of dishes and yes you can get the orange and yellow ones but I can't bear the taste of any of them. One of the most horrible things I ever had was shredded jellyfish, in the long-gone Luxuriance in Soho. It looked like pale elastic bands, was cold and managed to be both bland and disgusting, which is quite a feat. Don't ever try mushroom-infused whisky, my friends. What?! Why the shrieking pirouetting hell would anyone even think of such a stupidly repulsive idea, let alone make it? I love dumplings in all shapes and colours - ravioli, pierogi, khinkali, I devour them all shamelessly. "Shamelessly"! I now have an image of someone the opposite of you who does feel dumpling shame, sneaking off to have secret dumpling sessions, looking furtively around while they do so. I'd never heard of khinkali and just looked it up - thanks, I like learning about unfamiliar foodstuffs. Now I want to try some. Pierogi, oh man! I've enjoyed many a ribsticking Polish meal and it invariably has to involve pierogi. (And be rounded off by a square of crumbly plain cheesecake or those sweet cheese pancakes). What about dimsum like hargau, etc? For me one of life's culinary pleasures is the occasional dimsum lunch, indulging in that whole range of sensations the best dimsum provide - crunchy, slithery, subtle, rich, sticky, sweet and savoury, and of course ordering just that little bit too much of it. Oh I just thought of another cocktail I love, the sidecar, another one they do very nicely in Scooters (and at the other end of Waterloo, Brasserie Blanc do a pretty fine one too). A nice way to round off post number 999. That's me off then. (...until I stroll nonchalantly back in next week because I'm too much of a loudmouth and can't shut up).
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 21, 2019 13:04:49 GMT
Oh I love a Fray Bentos and occasionally have one as a treat when they are on offer for £1. Of course mo meat hardly just gravy and pastry but that pastry is the best bit especially the soggy stuff underneath. I eat a whole one. I'm sure when I was a kid one of those fed a family of 4. A whole one - as in, the 'family'-sized one? I have a great image of you lifting a big FB pie to your face (even though I realise that's sloppily impossible) and eating it like a big biscuit. That said, I did know someone who would eat whole sponge cakes in that way. Yes the moist underside of the puff pastry lid is luscious. Even when it's, as usual, risen unevenly - often one side is way higher than the other. If anyone is ever in Lochinver in the Assynt region of the NW Highlands, go to the Lochinver Larder and go pie-mad. They do a whole range of pies, savoury and sweet, and they are all packed to bursting and absolutely delicious. But you don't even have to go there, they do online orders. Side-note - ooh blimey. I have one post to reach 999. I told myself that as per the last board I'd bail at 999, I like the incomplete feel of it. I'd better choose it very carefully.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 21, 2019 12:48:52 GMT
I’ve just added a Fray Bentos pie to my Ocado order for the weekend. I’m excited. Weirdly, so am I. No one thus far seems to have mentioned pasta. I get through large amounts of it, mostly fusili. 😄 Fusili Jerry.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 21, 2019 12:38:27 GMT
I resent paying what they charge for cocktails I’m afraid. On a very rare occasion I’ll have something rum based like a Mai Tai. They’re terrible value though, I can finish one in two swigs. Yes though it depends where you go. Scooters still charge single figures for theirs, mainly £7-8. Some places are now charging close to that for a pint of beer.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 21, 2019 10:56:51 GMT
Part 3 of Jonathan Coe's Rotters Club series is now out in paperback, Middle England. I'm eagerly anticipating getting it for my birthday. I love his books, anyone unfamiliar with them and up for giving them a try, I recommend starting with The Rotters Club or The House Of Sleep.
I love me some good non-fiction and am finding Love by Paul Gambaccini, about his arrest as part of Yewtree following false accusations against him, a grimly compelling read but leavened with humour and positivity. I've also started on Charlotte Bingham's 'Coronet' books.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 21, 2019 10:49:34 GMT
The above conversation with daisy24601 about unwanted fruit etc in drinks tangentially takes me to cocktails. I love a cocktail and especially love some of the classics - white russian, gin martini, bramble, cosmopolitan and especially a manhattan or an old-fashioned. I appreciate bars inventing their own ones and they can sometimes come up with some very creative delicious mixes but there is also a tendency for them to put in herbs and spices, which I don't like. I love herbs and spices in cooking, but in cocktails I'm yet to have one including them that I've actually enjoyed. I admit I'm quite conservative when it comes to cocktails. My favourite place in London is Scooter Caffe on Lower Marsh, next to Waterloo station. They have a short cocktail menu (all the best menus of any kind, food or drink, are short) and do a very good old-fashioned, though it varies depending on who's mixing it. Scooters is very close to the geographic centre of greater London. I wonder if some sort of effect of that makes it feel so comfortable. Sitting in the comfy chair at the very back, with an old-fashioned and a good book, with no particular hurry to go anywhere or do anything and with the whole of London all around you, is a personal heaven. Any other cocktail fiends here?
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 21, 2019 8:17:18 GMT
Just lemons for some reason. Limes are fine. The worst thing is the obsession at so many restaurants and bars with putting a slice of lemon in your drink. Why?!! What purpose does it actually serve? It flavours the drink. Did I ask for lemon flavoured water? Did I ask for lemon flavored Coke? Get that muck out my glass! The amount of times I've had to leave a soggy bit of lemon on a bar or a table. Because I don't mind it, I never think about the presumption of putting a slice of lemon in drinks but you are absolutely right. They should ask if you want anything in it. I suppose even worse for you are places that have a communal jug of water for everyone to use, and it's got lemon slices floating in it - I've seen variations on this, e.g. orange slices or mint leaves. My favourite bar in Edinburgh, Under The Stairs, your glass of tap water comes with a slice of cucumber in. As I find lemon such a fresh and zingy taste and aroma it surprises me someone wouldn't like it but we are all wired differently. My dad couldn't bear the aroma of freshly sliced/peeled oranges - again, for me a lovely aroma but he found it nauseating. I like bananas but the smell of a ripe one, or of the peel that's been thrown in a bin nearby, makes me heave. In an office I used to work in, the team knew to throw their banana peel in a bin outside the office. A previous colleague claimed the smell of bananas actually made her immediately throw up. We didn't put it to the test.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 21, 2019 7:47:12 GMT
I hate lemons. Anyone with me on this? Can't even use lemon scented cleaning products. Absolutely not, they are one of my favourite ingredients. But I'm sure there'll be some who share your lemon aversion. Is it only lemon or other citruses too?
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 20, 2019 20:20:14 GMT
Favourite pastas I do at home: linguine with tuna in a rich tomato sauce. And Mrs Backdrifter's favourite, spaghetti with crevettes in home-made pesto (my pesto is superb).
For something simpler, spaghetti with olive oil, lemon and grated parmigiana, chopped parsley. Garlic and chilli optional.
Mrs Backdrifter does an absolute killer macaroni cheese, the best I've ever had.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 20, 2019 14:38:26 GMT
I went to the show last week at the Eden Court, Inverness. I can only echo what many have said here, it's a terrific show. If I'm even a quarter as energetic as that when I'm 80 I'll be very pleased.
I was glad he did the Tolkien stuff first as I don't know any of it - it was fine, but it suited me that he got it done and dusted right at the start. The second half was superb.
It was a real buzz to see him standing in the foyer of our little arts centre and have a very brief hello with him - he was mobbed and despite clearly being zonked he was brightly engaging with all who approached and thanking them for coming along.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 20, 2019 14:08:14 GMT
Apart from liking McAvoy and Duff and being insanely in love with Ruth Wilson I'm also pleased to see some other of the other cast - Clarke Peters, Ruta Gedimenta, James Cosmo, Ian Gelder.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 20, 2019 13:57:23 GMT
Personally I don't think you can beat a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie with mushy peas, followed by a butterscotch Angel Delight - all washed down with a nice glass of Vimto. Hang on, where's the mash? (or chips). I had a Fray Bentos steak & kidney pie a couple of years ago, for the first time since about 1980. It was ok, but very salty as I recall. The Highlands is Pie Land, individual pies abound and usually very good too so I don't feel the need to revisit the FB s&kp. Since moving here 2 years ago I've grown very fond of the chicken curry pie and how each bakery does it so differently. A few years before the FB experiment I did a similar "what would I think of this now" by having a can of ravioli. It wasn't horrible, but I've not felt the need to have it again and probably never will! Unless it becomes a vital source of nutrition in post-no-deal Brexitland. I'm sure at some point in adulthood I nostalgically tried an angel delight and it wasn't very nice. But I do have fond memories of having it for afters during childhood when our mum would make it an extra special treat by adding a chopped-up Mars bar to the butterscotch flavour one. On a tangent, related to the Fray Bentos I remember a radio phone-in about silly names of real people you know, and one call insisting their neighbours were Kate and Sidney Pye, but I don't believe that. They just wanted to get on the radio. Likewise the caller claiming to be Martin Hampshire from Martin in Hampshire.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 20, 2019 10:48:07 GMT
Where's there been an announcement of a new show?
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 20, 2019 9:41:01 GMT
I went to a Prophets of Rage gig last week and people were chucking semi full plastic pint pots up in the air over the crowd. I managed to get drenched in what I hope was beer before I moved to the side barrier where boring old ladies belong. They used to do that in the standing area on the pitch at the old Wembley Stadium during concerts. These days, ticket prices are so high, they seem not to. At an open-air gig in Glasgow in 2008 I got splattered by airborne booze but it was of course Buckie rather than beer.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 20, 2019 8:37:45 GMT
Ah, right. Out of interest: would you be able to appreciate a joke about or relating to your condition if it was actually good, creative and imaginative? I ask as I tend to believe that comedy can potentially cover anything and offend as few people as possible as long as it achieves those things. Quite possibly, yes - I can make light of it myself so I don't see why I wouldn't like a decent joke, but that one is awful! I see Tourette's Action has asked for an apology from Dave and the comedian in question.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 20, 2019 8:36:05 GMT
What’s everyone like with Use By and Best Before dates? We’re wasting a lot of food apparently. I’m very flexible with Best Before and a bit flexible with Use By. I’m not the person who thinks a yoghurt suddenly goes off on the stroke of midnight but I wouldn’t go more than a couple of days over on dairy. except for hard cheese (just cut the mould off). Fish and seafood...I’m very nervous about and will throw away on the use by date. Meat I’m a bit more flexible with and will look and smell. Has anyone had that terrible experience of glugging milk from the carton and only realising too late that it was totally off? *BOKE* 🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮 I never glug milk from cartons so no, I've thankfully never had that experience. Yes I'm very relaxed about best before dates. I very rarely find we have anything that's past its use-by date. Probably the most likely repeat offence in our house is bags of salad leaves. Not that we don't like our salads, we do, but do occasionally find that even after a couple of uses we still have some leaves left that then quickly turn to mush. Meat, fish and seafood we tend to buy from the butcher/fishmonger on the day or at most the day before so it never gets wasted. I do sometimes freeze meats. I'm sure use-by dates are probably very cautious. Yeah it bothers me when I read estimates of how much food we waste.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 19, 2019 19:16:35 GMT
During applause yesterday at "Bridges of Madison County" someone behind stood, and something wet landed on the back of my hand. Hopefully it was a tear drop. Thank goodness I carry anti-viral / anti bacterial hand spray with me everywhere... I think I can one up that - someone smashed a glass behind me and it ran down my back onto my seat at the last Rosmersholm. I gave a standing ovation mostly because I wanted to make sure none of it was on me (though that's not to say I didn't enjoy it). No apology or anything either! Years ago I found the person behind me in a WE theatre had spilled white wine down my back at some point, likewise with no apology nor indeed any form of notifying me. I still want to track her down and immerse her stupid face in a bucket of Blue Nun.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 19, 2019 19:11:55 GMT
I'm planning to see it Friday. I really fancy Margot Robbie.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 19, 2019 18:50:31 GMT
I don't find the winning joke borderline offensive but agree it's rubbish. It hit a nerve with me as someone with a (very mild) form of the condition in question and knowing people with more severe forms. Ah, right. Out of interest: would you be able to appreciate a joke about or relating to your condition if it was actually good, creative and imaginative? I ask as I tend to believe that comedy can potentially cover anything and offend as few people as possible as long as it achieves those things.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 19, 2019 18:45:28 GMT
I don't think prices for shows are THAT bad tbh. Compared to London, its all around 5/10 pounds cheaper for most part I made a point of going during the previews and saved just under £60.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 19, 2019 18:40:04 GMT
I like making my own, with plenty of finely chopped onion and some black pepper. Leave to firm up in the fridge for a short while, then lightly oil and griddle, sprinkling a little salt towards the end of cooking. In a lightly toasted brioche bun (cut sides down on the griddle) with ketchup, English mustard and sliced gherkin. "Backdrifter Burger Bar" opening soon. Quote "Theatreboard Member" and get your entire meal and drinks 'on the house.' I'd like to go on record right now to make it clear that in any bar or eaterie I set up, NO-ONE gets their food and/or drink on the house, especially not you lot here. Sod that! In the 90s when there was a phase of ultra-cool restaurants and bars in spartan unshowy spaces, I hatched the idea of a restaurant called -ish that took this concept to its extreme. It would be in a total and utter sh*thole that only just stayed on the right side of health and safety. Run-down, under-lit by a couple of bare 40w bulbs, random furniture rescued from skips, minimal menus scribbled on post-its and consisting of very basic stuff like egg on toast. But the ingredients would be the absolute best quality possible, very carefully sourced. So your egg on toast would consist of delicious, rich, ultra-fresh free-range eggs on exquisite fresh bread with creamy sea-salted farmhouse butter. And would cost a small fortune.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 19, 2019 15:53:45 GMT
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 19, 2019 15:22:12 GMT
Burgers. Late to the party as ever, I've not long discovered Honest Burger. So far I've been to the one on The Cut, and really enjoyed it. It's next door to Byron, also a favourite burger place and for me the best of the quality burger chains.
I recently had an excellent burger at the Courthouse Cafe in Dornoch... should any of you find yourselves there.
I like making my own, with plenty of finely chopped onion and some black pepper. Leave to firm up in the fridge for a short while, then lightly oil and griddle, sprinkling a little salt towards the end of cooking. In a lightly toasted brioche bun (cut sides down on the griddle) with ketchup, English mustard and sliced gherkin.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 19, 2019 10:38:43 GMT
Scouse (beef stew) and trifle. Trifle always at Christmas, and a very boozy one at that. Never any other time of the year though, for no real reason! And none of the silliness of ruining trifle by topping it with a load of cream before it's served. Custard is the top layer, each person should add cream to their own portion (or not bother at all, it's equally good without). Are you talking a separate bowl of whipped cream handed round for all to spoon on as they wish? Also, more detail please, Captain Trifle. Specially made sponge or ready-made trifle sponge fingers? What booze, what fruit, and is jelly involved?
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 19, 2019 10:31:52 GMT
posh afternoon tea at a London hotel. Ritz done, Claridges next. I haven't had afternoon teas at either. I like the idea of afternoon tea but while I have an very sweet tooth I too often find afternoon teas are too skewed to the sweet stuff. I want cakes and scones in a tea but usually I find I'd have liked a bit more of the savoury stuff.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 19, 2019 10:24:29 GMT
Some interesting comments there stevejohnson678. Somehow, the whole Fair Fringe saga passed me by. I can't help feeling C have been somewhat scapegoated and share your view that the other promoters probably don't do much different. It's really difficult to pin down what I thought was the problem - if there was one - with this year's visit, the longest I've had for some time (8 full days). In fact, because I went very early and had 2 completely free days before previews, I enjoyed a bit more space than before and was relieved it wasn't as physically rammed as last year. Again, I can't help returning to my initial thought that I simply hadn't chosen as well as I usually do. Though I still had a pretty decent strike rate of good shows and a small number of duffers. Every year I tell myself I must reduce the number of shows I see. I have managed that a few times but fell back into old habits this year and crammed too much in. I also for the first time booked the majority of shows in two tranches during the advance online booking period, starting in March. Previously I'd always just waited until the full programme was published and combed through it to make my selection. My staggered approach this year somehow disrupted things and I know I missed out on stuff I'd have enjoyed that way. Obviously you always do but in this case there was stuff I know I could have made space for if I'd done the booking as before. Another change for me was not being able to get my usual Old Town apartment. I've grown so used to it, it kind of threw things out of whack not being there! I was in a Rose Street apartment which admittedly was a very good price but I didn't like being based in the New Town. Fortunately I was able to book my usual place for 2020... last year. It's the first time I've ever booked anything 2 years in advance!
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 19, 2019 9:45:50 GMT
I've just read the shortlist of the funniest jokes at the festival this year - if that is the best that performers could come up with, then my sadness at not being able to go is much less than it was previously, as I don't appear to have missed much. The winning joke isn't funny in the slightest, in fact it's almost offensive. I don't think you can place any reliance on this annual "funniest joke" nonsense. No list of 10 jokes can in any way be even remotely representative or taken as being "the best" regardless of how many shows have been attended in order to create the shortlist. Plus, the emphasis is entirely on puns and one-liners. But it'd still be a stupid list even if they called it "10 best puns and one-liners". I don't find the winning joke borderline offensive but agree it's rubbish. From the list given, the advent calendar one most appealed to me. Pretty much all the rest are at the sort of level you tend to see on this board. Imagine having paid for that.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 18, 2019 21:48:15 GMT
Following on from earlier comments: while I enjoyed my Edinburgh trip as I generally do, I too felt something was 'missing'. It was the first time its highs didn't at least match those of earlier visits. I just assumed I'd made so-so choices.
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 18, 2019 21:29:49 GMT
I love cheesecake but it very specifically must be of the firm, baked variety, a little crumbly, plain, unfussy and delicious. And untroubled by stupid fruit toppings. The soft, flabby, non-baked fridge variety of cheesecake is not, repeat NOT, cheesecake. It's just bland flaccid rubbish. If you are lucky enough to go to New York anytime soon, make sure you head for Juniors which is next to the Lion King, it sells the best cheesecake in the world, their red velvet cheesecake is beyond gorgeous. Thank you! I am hoping to get a NY trip in soon-ish as it happens. Meanwhile, where in the UK can we get the next best thing to proper NY baked cheesecake?
|
|
999 posts
|
Post by Backdrifter on Aug 18, 2019 21:27:33 GMT
Scouse (beef stew) and trifle. Is there a difference between scouse and lobscouse?
|
|