pumpkinstrokemarrow

These being the woodland strawberries which are growing east of the northeastern leg of the new daffodil bed. First picking earlier in the week, resulting in about three heaped tablespoons of produce.

Small, flavourful and not particularly sweetful. But at least they had not been raised under polythene or air-freighted from Kenya. Most eco.

A bit later, to Esher to check out their culinary delights. First stop, decided not to go back to the fancy but rather expensive Chinese restaurant there (http://www.goodearthgroup.co.uk/). Second stop, the rather large and cold Christ Church which was built in the mid 19th century, the neighbouring St. George having become a touch crowded. Presumably much too large for current needs. Maybe they should take a leaf out of the Catholic book, flog the church & the land it is on and devote the proceeds to good works. Like promoting the word of the Lord in darkest Africa, in the everlasting hope that the flame will be kept alive there, against the day when it putters out here. Third stop, the Piccolo, so new that it has yet to put in a proper appearance at http://www.caffepiccolo.co.uk/, which I am assuming is the same outfit. Quite busy for a Tuesday lunchtime, mainly people of our own age and station. Pleasant meal, but we made the mistake of buying the wine by the glass, rather than just getting a bottle. And the veal escalope, said to be cooked the Paduan way, or some such, was very interesting, perhaps better described as a sandwich. The thing was an irregular oval shape, perhaps six square inches in area and just over a quarter of an inch thick. 2mm of some sort of battery/breadcrumby covering, 2mm of meat then a further 2mm of covering. Quite eatable but not terribly meaty; perhaps designed for a candidate veggie.

We decided that the waitress was a fake Italian from Poland on the grounds that she thought that Harvey's Bristol Cream was a viable substitute for Vino Santo. Us now being very knowledgeable about this last.