Thursday, December 08, 2011
Olives
A mention in dispatches for Olivetto, a restaurant in Guildford, also to be found at http://olivo.co.uk/restaurants. Perhaps the third time we have been there. A late lunch, the main event of which was a seafood risotto. Not quite sure why we went for it as our experience of the dish is rather mixed: I have had one very sour, as if someone had spilt vinegar in it. BH has had one unpleasantly salty. Often they are watery, oozing red oily water. But the basic idea is sound enough and is very reliable in its subcontinental guise, so I guess we thought it worth a go. And it turned out to be rather good. A plain risotto rice base covered with miscellaneous shellfish on the bone: mussels, clams, prawny things of various shapes and sizes. Followed up by what was described as their chef's interpretation of tiramisu, also rather good. Watery being a complaint which often afflicts this dish too. All washed down with an entirely satisfactory 2009/10 Falanghina del Sannio, plus a drop of the Vino Santo mentioned last week (November 30th). Smaller glass, same colour wine and same biscuits.
Home to a piece by Monbiot in the Guardian on a shiny new sort of nuclear power station which gobbles up all the energy in the fuel supplied, unlike the paltry 5% managed by the reactors we have now. Very little unpleasant waste and no pressure vessels which might explode. Something called integral fast reactors or IFRs and they could drive the world for many years to come, perhaps for as long is the sun is apt to be around. So how come Mr. Monbiot knows all about these things while HMG is carrying on with old-style reactors and Germany is abandoning the nuclear ship altogether? But good enough for the Chinese, the Indians and the Russians.
A short poke around with Mr. Google did not come up with anything very helpful. Lots of stuff out there about IFRs, but all very positive. All we get is that President Clinton cancelled the relevant US project back in 1994. Some talk of their being bad for proliferation and very bad for the established energy corporations who might take a bad knock if these things really did work. Has there been some pushing and shoving in the corridors of power?
Perhaps the Monbiot piece will result in a bit of movement, at least in the English corridors, at least to the extent of checking his story out.
Home to a piece by Monbiot in the Guardian on a shiny new sort of nuclear power station which gobbles up all the energy in the fuel supplied, unlike the paltry 5% managed by the reactors we have now. Very little unpleasant waste and no pressure vessels which might explode. Something called integral fast reactors or IFRs and they could drive the world for many years to come, perhaps for as long is the sun is apt to be around. So how come Mr. Monbiot knows all about these things while HMG is carrying on with old-style reactors and Germany is abandoning the nuclear ship altogether? But good enough for the Chinese, the Indians and the Russians.
A short poke around with Mr. Google did not come up with anything very helpful. Lots of stuff out there about IFRs, but all very positive. All we get is that President Clinton cancelled the relevant US project back in 1994. Some talk of their being bad for proliferation and very bad for the established energy corporations who might take a bad knock if these things really did work. Has there been some pushing and shoving in the corridors of power?
Perhaps the Monbiot piece will result in a bit of movement, at least in the English corridors, at least to the extent of checking his story out.
# posted by Jim @ 1:33 AM 
