Monday, December 18, 2006
Delia rules
Moved into salt beef on Saturday - six pounds of brisket on the bone - and the third outing for the new stew pot. After some poking around - rather to my surprise the Boston cook book did not do salt beef - we landed up with Delia's tome. Boil meat for an hour or so, then add vegetables: turnip, celery, carrot and (whole) onion. Omit herbs. Boil - or rather simmer - for another hour or so. Remove beef to oven and drop in dumplings. Simmer for twenty minutes and drain. Serve the whole lot with cabbage and boiled potatoes.
Turned out good - not too salty. Not so salty in fact that the salt pinkness had not penetrated to the centre where we had a stripe of brown. Nearly as good as the terrific salt beef one used to get in a fashionable East end flavoured cafe in Windmill Street. Along with potato pancakes (before the Hoilday Inn had heard of them) and chicken soup. Not to mention what appeared to be cold fried white fish and chopped liver. Sadly, long since replaced by an adult book shop. And the salt beef one gets elsewhere seems to be pressed silverside which I dont like. Salt beef should be loose.
Liquor destined for pea soup. Salt beef sarnies for lunch to day - which happens to be a better than average bread day.
Starting to paint the cupboard carcase. Some discussion about whether white or cream was more suitable then off to Wickes - which I had forgotten is an entirely own brand place. In the paint department I have a soft spot for Dulux but I don't suppose it matters all that much inside. Then one had the complication that cream came in silk finish, non drip, one coat, rich cream, cool cream or Devon cream variants. It is a fair bet that I have gone for the wrong one but for once have retained the receipt!
Continue with DHL. An acute observer of the myriad transient strains, tensions, alienations, conflicts and attractions in the relations between two people. But I am very dubious whether this sort of attention to detail is a good idea in one's own relationships. Do a lot more harm than good. Better to smooth over the whole lot of it with a good cigar.
Yesterday to Wigmore Hall for a Schubert trout (having recently learned that Hardy's wife dies of the same complaint as Schubert) and a Beethoven septet. The programme tells us the Beethoven's dad was an alcoholic which I didn't know before. I had also forgotten that the trout involved a double bass which I can not have heard in chambers for a very long time. Neither a bassoon nor a French horn. Good cheerful programme for a damp winter's evening.
Turned out good - not too salty. Not so salty in fact that the salt pinkness had not penetrated to the centre where we had a stripe of brown. Nearly as good as the terrific salt beef one used to get in a fashionable East end flavoured cafe in Windmill Street. Along with potato pancakes (before the Hoilday Inn had heard of them) and chicken soup. Not to mention what appeared to be cold fried white fish and chopped liver. Sadly, long since replaced by an adult book shop. And the salt beef one gets elsewhere seems to be pressed silverside which I dont like. Salt beef should be loose.
Liquor destined for pea soup. Salt beef sarnies for lunch to day - which happens to be a better than average bread day.
Starting to paint the cupboard carcase. Some discussion about whether white or cream was more suitable then off to Wickes - which I had forgotten is an entirely own brand place. In the paint department I have a soft spot for Dulux but I don't suppose it matters all that much inside. Then one had the complication that cream came in silk finish, non drip, one coat, rich cream, cool cream or Devon cream variants. It is a fair bet that I have gone for the wrong one but for once have retained the receipt!
Continue with DHL. An acute observer of the myriad transient strains, tensions, alienations, conflicts and attractions in the relations between two people. But I am very dubious whether this sort of attention to detail is a good idea in one's own relationships. Do a lot more harm than good. Better to smooth over the whole lot of it with a good cigar.
Yesterday to Wigmore Hall for a Schubert trout (having recently learned that Hardy's wife dies of the same complaint as Schubert) and a Beethoven septet. The programme tells us the Beethoven's dad was an alcoholic which I didn't know before. I had also forgotten that the trout involved a double bass which I can not have heard in chambers for a very long time. Neither a bassoon nor a French horn. Good cheerful programme for a damp winter's evening.
# posted by Jim @ 2:40 AM 
