Saturday, November 07, 2009
Western curries
Thought to mark what turned out to be the winding up of my affairs in the regional capital of the west with a pub lasagne. This failed as they had none left. 'Freezer bare?', I suggest breezily, to be told by the waitress that the lasagne certainly did not come out of a freezer but was cooked on the spot, which struck me as a most unlikely tale. Why would a bog standard (to borrow a phrase from Mr Blair) pub serving maybe one lasagne every couple of days bother to actually make the things when you can buy them in for 50p a pop? I then opted for the special of the day - more a marketing concept than a reality to my mind - which was chicken curry. Which also turned out to be rather unlikely. A very spicy, watery red sauce with some lumps of boiled chicken floating around in it. Plus some mush derived from well cooked vegetables lurking underneath. Served with boiled rice (which was OK) and a rather greasy poppadom - the sort of thing served by Tooting Wetherspoons on a curry night (where, I might say, the curry looks much better than that in question here). All in all, not too impressed. But the couple of pints of Otter Red were OK.
Back home, thought yesterday to try the oak smoked kippers from the fish man from Hastings at Cheam, in addition to the regular cod. The kippers were the right colour, but a bit greasy looking. Cooked by simmering for around 10 minutes. Right flavour, but texture not very good. A bit mushy. Not like the firm, clean texture of the kippers from Craster knocked out by Waitrose, or, for that matter, by the man in the shed along Ferry Road, between Southwold and Walberswick.
The cod, however, was entirely successful. Cooking time up to 80 minutes now, having started at 50. So far, so much the more cooking, so much the better the product. Liquid down to a succulent yellow goo with bits of tomato and onion embedded therein. Fish brilliant white - almost up to Dulux standards - firm and flaky. But I dare say there is an upper limit to the cooking time.
Then moved on to the turning off of the utilities at the house that had been sold. I thought, in my innocence, that the utilities would like to read the meters themselves for an account closure, rather than relying on a mere customer reading. But no, they have worked out that them getting out to a meter costs them a lot more than the small risk of customer fiddling warrants. Could sir read the meter please? Well no, I live 200 miles away and it is not very convenient. Then could sir guarantee to be in when we come to read the meter please? Well no, I live 200 miles away and it is not very convenient. Perhaps the meter man could walk 100 yards down the road and get the key from the agents? No sir, certainly not sir. Our meter men are very busy men and certainly do not have time for that kind of thing. So we are left in something of an impasse. Maybe the answer is to simply turn off the direct debits and then pursue the matter in slow time.
I also learn that despite all the huffing and puffing about my speaking for a third party and the am I sure that I have said third party's authority to be talking to them at all, that they are not in the least bit interested in a letter from him, confirming what I am telling them. Processing letters probably even more fag than reading the meter. At least the meter only involves digits. No long words.
# posted by Jim @ 3:57 AM 
