a mother or a face

free range pigs

2010-07-11T08:36:00.004+01:00

The sandlands of Nottinghamshire have witnessed a win for animal welfare and compassionate farming over the past twenty years: free range pigs.

I became a vegetarian in 2007 because of the inhumane treatment of animals that give us meat.

Watching these sows in the open air, snuffling in the muck and chomping stones is a real treat. Not for these girls intensive factories with sows packed into crates. Not for them a life without mudbaths and without snouts in soil. Not for them farrowing in hideous confinement. These pigs are doing what comes naturally and I applaud the farmers who rear pigs in this way.

There are plans to build a huge pig factory over on Derbyshire. All of those features that we thought were left behind will be here, in the East Midlands but multiplied many times over. Piglets will be born into an intensive environment with a confined mother, they will be weaned and fattened intensively. The only time the pigs will see daylight or smell soil will be on their way to slaughter.

We can see the kind of lives pigs were intended to live and the contentment they show when the husbandry meets their needs. We can imagine the lives of those pigs whose entire life experience is lived inside a factory farm. Compassion tells us which is the choice we must make.

Shame on those who think that this intensive rearing of animals is right.

hucknall torkard cider

2010-06-27T21:39:00.006+01:00

A Nottinghamshire cider!

Stopped at the Hand and Heart pub on Derby Road Nottingham before an excellent evenings entertainment thanks to Paco pena - virtuoso Spanish guitar, dancing and singing.

The Hand and Heart is a fine Nottinghamshire boozer with rooms carved into the sandstone. And there, to further root me in my native county was a fine cider brewed not five miles from my house.

A powerful brew (8.2) and not for the sweet cider drinker, this robust drink started my evening very well.

Congratulations to our newest (and only!) local cider maker. They are experimenting with a bottling machine - I'll be queuing up to get some to quaff at home as soon as they do.

bread and jam

2010-06-20T16:51:00.008+01:00

I don't want you to think I've been hoodwinked in any way into thinking that the froth of my last post indicated a change of direction.

So, I thought I'd celebrate one of the classic working class British dishes - good, old-fashioned bread and jam!
In the modern world, our former staples have been devalued as factory methods have taken over. Once a national favourite, bread and jam has become mass-produced spongy white bread with one of those dreadful, bland, yellow spreads topped with a gelatinous, coloured sugar paste. Who would eat that?

It doesn't have to be so - and didn't used to be! So, this is what food used to taste like - and we loved it!

Fresh, home made white bread (Doves Farm organic strong plain white), with extra wheatgerm added and rolled in semolina flour.
Butter made at the Peak District Dairy, Tideswell in Derbyshire.
Home made damson & apple and raspberry & blackberry jams.

The flavour of fresh home made bread is enough on its own. Add jams made at home from fruits grown in your own garden. The raspberry & blackberry has a zingy astringency that complements the butter and bread superbly. I love the chunkiness of the damson and apple.

The butter deserves a special mention. It is not the mass-produced butter available in our supermarkets but made at a small dairy in Derbyshire. When I had my first slice I was transported to my childhood and suddenly remembered that butter has a unique creamy flavour. No wonder people used to ask for a plate of bread and butter!

Let's reclaim our food!

posh nosh at belvoir castle

2010-06-12T10:16:00.010+01:00

Belvoir (pronounced Beaver) Castle commands the Vale of Belvoir on the Nottinghamshire/Leicestershire border in the English midlands.

From its balconies, Lincoln Cathedral can be just seen on the horizon twenty miles away. The castle makes a stunning venue for a wedding reception - and that's why we came: my Godson's wedding.

The castle is owned by the vastly wealthy Duke of Rutland whose family was given their lands by King William when he conquered these islands in the eleventh century.

Wonderful views, impressive building and just as astonishing interiors in this stately home.

The gardens were good: formal, with roses and box, but delightful on a sunny afternoon with a glass of Pims!

Q. But how was the grub for vegetarians??

A. Great.

Our starter was classic bruschetta with tomatoes and pesto and a mayonnaise dip.
The main course was pictured: butternut squash and vegetables wrapped in filo pastry with seasonal asparagus spears and smashed potatoes. A nice bowl of green beans and broad beans to accompany. I have complained before about the connection chefs make between vegetarains and their inevitable love of butternut squash. I have to admit it this was absolutely delicious! It is now several weeks since I ate my last home grown squash, so perhaps I was ready for some more.
Dessert was shortbread with strawberries and cream. Beautiful!

So, posh nosh at Belvoir. Presentation was excellent, food cooked perfectly and very tasty.

The evening saw us chatting away and then mini fish and chips, chicken satay and burgers arrived. Nice touch! Here's my only gripe: nothing for the veggie minority there.

I was still full from the meal - so it didn't matter.

For a wedding reception or just a visit - go to Belvoir Castle.

vinehouse cafe helmsley yorkshire

2010-04-10T08:40:00.007+01:00

By chance. On the way to Scarborough. We dropped in at Helmsley Walled Garden because the internet said they did food.

But I hadn't realised what food and how good.

This is a vegetarian cafe set in the old vinehouse of the walled garden. On a sunny day it would be a marvellous setting.

It isn't just the setting that is good. Try their salads or lunchtime soups - both as good as I have tasted. Congratulations to Monica and the team.

This is an excellent cafe with wonderful food. Go there!!

my search for the perfect panettone begins......

2010-04-05T21:04:00.004+01:00

I will remember Christmas 2009 for a number of reasons including the longest bout of 'flu I've ever had! Three weeks of misery!

But another memory was much more pleasant. I was given a Panettone - and it was absolutely delicious.

Panettone is an Italian sweet bread with dried fruit and flavoured with vanilla. This was a very posh panettone from Saville Row in London. The family fell on it like ravenous wolves!
So, being a breadmaker, I thought I'd have a go at one myself.

So, this is my first attempt at creating the perfect panettone at home..

Wash 175 g dried mixed fruit and place in container. The residual water will begin to soak into the fruit, making it more juicy.
Mix 100ml warm milk with 15 g dried yeast and one teaspoon sugar. Leave until frothy.
Combine 100g soft unsalted butter with 50 g sugar and when mixed and fluffy add three eggs and one teaspoon of vanilla extract and the grated rind of an unwaxed lemon.
Combine 400g white strong plain organic flour and one teaspoon salt with the butter, egg and sugar mixture and the yeast and milk mixture and mix in breadmaker for 20 minutes.
Then add washed mixed fruit and mix for further ten minutes.
Leave to rise in buttered sealed plastic container at 50 degrees Celsius until doubled in bulk.
Place dough into buttered and greaseproof paper lined cake tin and once again leave to rise at 50 degrees Celsius until almost double din size.
Then bake at 200 degrees Celsius for five minutes before turning oven setting down to around 170 degrees Celsius. It is cooked when sounds hollow tapped on bottom.
While still warm brush with melted butter and dust with icing sugar.

slooow white bread

2010-04-03T00:39:00.007+01:00

Fresh, soft white bread - with a substantial crust.

750g Strong White Doves Farm organic bread flour

5ooml warm water

2 level teaspoons salt

packet dried yeast

Splash of sunflower oil.

Mix and knead until a dough is formed - in my breadmaker 30 minutes.

Turn into plastic container, snap on lid and leave somewhere cool for 10 to 12 hours. This length of time allows the enzymes in the dough to slowly work together to give that superb 'home made' taste.

Switch oven onto 220 degrees celsius.

Meanwhile remove dough, and knead into required loaf shapes and sizes. Place in greased tins or on trays and cover with moistened T towel and leave somewhere warm to rise. 50 degrees Celsius is ideal.

When just less than double in size, place into hot oven. remember they will continue to rise in the oven until the heat kills the yeast.

Cook at the high temperature for around five minutes then reduce temperature to 160 degrees Celsius. Cook for further twenty to twenty five minutes dependent on size of loaves.

Ready when base of loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Leave to cool on wire rack.

When cold, slice and freeze - homemade bread is delicious but does not keep well.

parsnip wine

2010-03-31T15:23:00.001+01:00

So successful has our parsnip method been, that we have loads too many and can't store any more.

Rather than waste them, we thought we'd go all quaint and make parsnip wine.

Home wine making was the fashion in the seventies, when imported wine was very expensive and we had little idea of what good wine tasted like.

These days it is becoming a little more popular again, but is still only a fringe activity. It has probably been spurred on by the 'grow-your-own' and allotmenting craze. We have only come to wine making because of our surplus parsnips. Other candidates for this quirky pastime are peapods and elderflowers. No wonder foreigners think the English are crazy!

So, the Easter holiday is here and we're beginning parsnip wine.

I have in mind the expectant faces of my family and friends on Christmas morning when they feel a bottle shaped gift in its wrapping paper. Just imagine the change in their facial expression as they eagerly rip the wrapping paper off and discover a bottle of home made parsnip wine is their gift.

From expectation to expectoration in a matter of seconds.

prove it all night....

2010-03-28T08:22:00.006+01:00

In modern bakery factories, finished loaves are ready within an hour of dry ingredients being mixed.

But is the modern way the best? My answer is firmly 'no' because the quality of the finished product falls so far short of what I want in bread.

I want my bread to be made of flour, water, yeast and pinch of salt. And I want taste and texture.

One way of packing more flavour into bread is to mix and knead the dough, and then leave it to 'prove' overnight. Previous generations of bakers tell of sleeping on the containers of dough overnight and being woken by the raised dough literally tipping them onto the bakery floor.

Here is my trusty tupperware container. It has been giving service 'proving'

bread overnight since around 1979.

I mix and knead the dough and

leave it in the airtight container overnight. In the morning, the dough will have matured for twelve hours allowing the enzymes in the flour to work together with the other dough

ingredients to give

the finished bread an even more satisfying flavour and crumb.

It made delicious granary and wholemeal loaves.

the lambley, lambley nottinghamshire

2010-03-26T18:55:00.001Z

Back to The Lambley for a family meal.

Soup looked drab and smelt strange but the cauliflower soup tasted surprisingly good.

Of course, The Lambley does not believe in offering too much choice in case the poor weakened vegetarians start to have nosebleeds and fall into faints.

So, the 'I'll have the vegetarian choice' refrain was heard. Vegetarians got a spinach and ricotta canelloni with a salad - and it was good.

And once again, there was no real ale -only Eurofizz.

Quality remains at The Lambley - but no choice.

salad potato: nicola

2010-03-24T18:12:00.004Z

2009 will be remembered as an excellent year for our potato harvest. Kestrel is a faithful old friend and we have used this variety for ten years. Pink Fir Apple is less reliable, but is always on the plot: it is the oldest of the potato varieties and tastiest by a mile. Another regular is Nicola.

Nicola is a second early salad potato, yellow and waxy with distinctive elongated tubers. Very tasty! It is ready for lifting in August and before the worst of potato blight hits maincrop potatoes. This year our harvest has been so abundant that we still have bags stored from the autumn and they are beginning to send out shoots. They won't last for long and are less appealing when wizened. 'Aren't we all'?, I hear you say!

So, peeled and blanched, they will be frozen to get us through 'the hungry gap' between when our stored potatoes have finished and our earlies can be harvested.

organic stoneground wholemeal bread

2010-03-20T18:01:00.012Z

Breadmaking has been a passion since 1978. Now that makes me sound old!

The original impetus was a bakers' strike. But it was almost impossible to get wholemeal bread at that time and so it was already obvious that I should make my own - especially since the bread they weren't baking wasn't available anyway!

Compare the 'bread' sold in our supermarkets with the home made kind. The ingredients list on a loaf of supermarket bread tells you how far from the original and best that industrial bakers have strayed. All you need for the perfect loaf is flour, yeast, salt and water.

I now use dried yeast that is added to the dry ingredients before the water. It is reliable and quick. One day I will return to blocks of fresh yeast - the more natural the better! But I remember having to 'prove' the dough twice in my early days in a cold house without central heating and how much longer this made the process.

I also frequently use a bread maker to mix the dough: the thirty minutes dough mixing is valuable time for doing something else. This is the 21st century after all.

A real help for the modern home baker is that supermarkets often stock organic, stoneground wholemeal flour. Finding this on the shelves of supermarkets in the 1970's was very tricky - if not impossible! In the early eighties we used to drive out to Matlock in Derbyshire to buy a sack of flour from a miller. The only stoneground wholemeal organic loaf we could find in the late seventies was 'The Rearsby loaf' and we could very rarely get it fresh. Toasting this bread was a real experience! Nowadays, good flour is available and I find the most reliable variety is Doves Farm and seek it out.

So here are two freshly baked wholemeal loaves with crushed walnuts (back) and a wholemeal at the front.

There's not much more satisfying than making and then eating your own bread!

in defence of food by michael pollan

2010-03-17T20:17:00.002Z

Michael Pollan's thought-provoking book about our attitudes to food and eating is on my bedside table at the moment.

This quote speaks not only of American attitudes to food, but also those of the British:

'In one experiment, he showed the words 'chocolate cake' to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. 'Guilt' was the top response.

The response of French eaters to the same prompt: 'celebration''.

'Real England: the battle against the bland'

2010-03-13T08:13:00.011Z

Enjoyed reading 'Real England: the battle against the bland' by Paul Kingsnorth (pub. Portobello) this month.

Paul brilliantly draws together those concerns I frequently share in these blogs about the ways that agro-industry, pub chains and multi-national brewers, market domination of supermarkets amongst other pressures have overtaken us and reduced choice and quality for us all.

We had enjoyed a short, three mile circular walk in Blidworth Dale and looked back where we had walked. Our English landscape has been in a process of constant change at the hands of man for several thousand years. In the nineteenth century, in the summer, this area rang with the rasping call of the corncrake (Crex Crex). The corncrake has not bred in Nottinghamshire during my lifetime. It became abundant due to prevalent farming techniques and was lost when mechanised harvesting replaced harvesting by hand.

This is one change that our landscape has seen. Since the second world war, the pace of change has quickened. Fields have been created, and then enlarged and recently, hedges have been reinstated. But it is a sign of the times that the centre of our view stood a trailer unit from Hammonds. Hammonds is a large agricultural contractor/farmer. There are Hammonds operating all over the country now bringing the economies of scale to production. There would have been a time, not long ago, when the local landowner would have employed his own local staff and farmed and harvested this land. This is now contracted out to the specialist 'big boys' who are harvesting a large field of uniform, intensively grown leeks using cheap foreign pickers.

Whilst delivering cheaper food, the consequence is fewer local jobs, greater uniformity in the food we are are offered and further loss of opportunity to buy locally. Each of these insidious losses diminish us.

We should be able to buy organically grown, local vegetables. We should not be dependent on the all-powerful supermarkets.

We should not need to employ unskilled foreign workers.

Local families should be supported by having local jobs.

I recommend 'Real England' as a rallying cry.

The Fur and Feathers, Woodbastwick Norfolk, England.

2010-02-19T17:35:00.008Z

Planning a couple of nights away in Norfolk and wanting to fit in a few of our favourite things: walking, birdwatching, beer and good vegetarian food.

Ninety three different bird species in three days tells of the success of part of this short break with highlights being snow buntings around our feet (Salthouses), hungry barn owls seemingly at every turn and cranes flying into their Hickling Broad roost as seen from Stubbs Mill.

But food .. and beer?

I bring good news!

Three cheers for The Fur and Feathers in Woodbastwick, Norfolk, England.

The first hurrah is for 'The Brewery Tap' of the marvellous Norfolk brewer Woodforde's. A 'Brewery Tap' is the name given to the pub that is local to the brewery and gets its beer fresh from the brewery. Woodforde's deliver the beer the few yards from the adjoining brewery and it is taken straight from the cask. Gorgeous! Ale is specially British and quite unlike continental lagers or weissbiers. I guess it is most like 'altbier' served in parts of Germany. Ale is served at 50 to 55 degrees F and is considered 'warm' by our foreign visitors. Woodforde's 'Wherry' is highly recommended - but I haven't found one yet that I haven't loved!

The second cheer is for the choice given to vegetarians. Several choices and all imaginative including Birnam blue cheese cheesecake, sundried tomato sauce and goats cheese gnocchi and mushroom and Birnam blue cheese bread and butter pudding. But were these choices as good as they sounded?

The third cheer is for the wonderful taste! My photos did the bread and butter pudding and cheesecake no favours but we went back next day for more of the same! Let me tell you that happens rarely. And we weren't disappointed. On the second day, the generous portions from our previous day's visit made us limit our choice to main course only.

Get yourself to this place!

croissant bread and butter pudding

2010-01-31T12:45:00.004Z

Croissants left over from breakfast and too dry to eat?

Mix eggs and milk - add a little sugar.

Grease dish and break croissants up and place in.

Add eggs and milk mix.

Bake in oven 180 celsius for around thirty minutes or until golden.

Serve with English custard.

kokob, brussels, belgium

2009-08-17T12:33:00.009+01:00

Over to Brussels, Brugge and Gent in Belgium for a short break via the Eurostar train.

Cor, a buzzin', busy few days that took in the European Parliament, the strange urinating statue that Japanese tourists love to photograph so much (Mannekin-pis), the Great War battlefields, cycling through Flanders countryside and a Flemish bagpipe rock band in Gent. And generous tastings of Belgian beer.

And meals out in another European country. How did they cope with vegetarians?

Well, as you would expect, Brussels did best with the outstanding Ethiopian restaurant Kokob.

Meals are served on a millet pancake. Lentils, crumbly cheese, tofu, aubergine curry and salad and rice. More of the millet pancakes rolled and ready to dab in. Plenty more in dishes on the side.

Dessert was a delicious chocolate cake. Then coffees. I completely forget the Belgian beer I drank but do remember that the music of Jan Garbarek featured which always improves a dining ambiance.

The exchange rate makes dining out and drinking in Belgium hugely costly these days. For example a cup of tea cost £3.00. Ouch - for a man whose motto is 'Every Pound a Prisoner' this was a punishing week. But this restaurant was special.

Kokob recommended!

Benton's Brasserie, Heathcote Street, Nottingham

2009-08-06T18:56:00.006+01:00

Due to kitchen refurb/demolition we are having to eat out at friends or at favourite restaurants at the moment. Great hardship!

So, to Benton's Brasserie on Heathcote Street Nottingham last night.
Benton's is one of those places that we return to. We are fans. Julian Benton and his team were having to go pretty fast to meet the huge demand tonight. There was hardly a spare seat in the house.

Today I chose a pleasant sweet pepper, sweet corn and spring onion cake with chilli and tomato salsa. Nothing to knock my hat off, here, but enjoyable none-the-less.

Then onto a tasty butternut squash, pine nut and rocket risotto with Parmesan biscuits. Creamy, flavoursome risotto - and the parmesan biscuit was a tangy delight.

Benton's don't do a real ale on draught (my only gripe) so I had a couple of cool pints of stella.

We took advantage of the special offer and so paid only £9.00 per head for drinks and a two course meal in Nottingham Centre. Quality and value.

Benton's - we'll be back!

moulin inn, pitlochrie, scotland

2009-08-04T18:20:00.004+01:00

Visits to wonderful Scotland were blighted, years ago, by awful food and terrible beer. The culture has not changed radically, but there are now nuggets of gold, waiting to be panned. or plated. Hurrah, for the Moulin Inn. It brews it's own excellent beer and serves excellent food to everyone, including vegetarians!

The pub was very busy on a Saturday night, but the staff quickly found our party of six a table.

And facing us was a beagle type dog. Too many pubs and restaurants exclude dogs in my view. This one did not really want to be there, but I wanted to see him!

Anyway, onto the food. My choice was 'Mushroom Pancakes'. Okay, the pancakes were crepes, but they were tasty. The 'salad' that came with the meal was a throwback to those other days. A small pile of chopped cress does not constitute a salad!Then onto a bread and butter pudding for afters. My favourite!

This was a fun and busy place and I intend to go again on my next visit to the Scottish highlands.

2009-07-18T15:38:00.003+01:00

'Are you still a vegetarian?' Came the question this week.
And the question was prompted by my not posting on this blog for ages.

Well, the answer is that I am still a vegetarian, and still eating out, but just such a busy time at work that I'm not getting time to blog.

To keep you up to date:
Last night......
Tamatangas, Trinity Square, Nottingham: .....is the new Wagamamas and still enjoying it. Vegetable Thali and nice little cheesecake for dessert was £9.00 excluding drinks and tip. That's not bad for Nottingham centre. I could live on dall and naan.

At a pre-wedding celebration and took my share of wearing his pimps hat. I think that red is my colour!

creme, stapleford, nottingham

2009-05-10T21:18:00.006+01:00

Incongruously, an elegant restaurant set in prosaic Stapleford, Nottingham.

But Creme restaurant is worth a visit.

The decor is modern and stylish. The service is excellent.

Two vegetarians and a coeliac turned up and the staff couldn't have been more helpful. A special menu for the nobbly vegetable and each option was mouth-watering.

My choice was soup and homemade roll followed by a delicious butternut squash strudel that resembled the Stonehenge monoliths.... then a spectacular desert that looked like a mad science experiment. I half expected to be catapulted back to the future as I entered it! But it was gorgeous.

Peroni lager and then a delicious cappuccino.

Thirty pounds a head and then tip.

Expensive - but I'll be back.

La Capanna, Nottingham

2009-05-05T20:42:00.002+01:00

Everyone has their own favourite Italian restaurant. We've got used to La Capanna in Sherwood Nottingham. It's been going for years and has maintained impressive consistency of quality over all that time.

For vegetarians there is always a good choice and it is always served piping hot. My dad's crtierion for a good meal!

My starter was a delicious mushrooms stuffed with spinach and served in a rich tomato sauce.

My main course was a spicy pasta.

Go there. You won't be disappointed.

eating out in derry and county londonderry

2009-04-11T08:41:00.002+01:00

When I visited Belfast three or so years ago, I was very disappointed by the choice and quality of restaurants. I wasn't even vegetarian then! Was it the old Presbyterian ethic that if it's fun, it shouldn't be done at work?

How would Derry and County Londonderry compare now that I was a weirdo and in an area in which tourism may not be well developed?

It's brilliant!!!!!!!

Flaming Jacks in Derry is a lively young place offering good value but not with reduced quality. I had a nice crunchy caesar salad followed by vegetable fajitas. Fast, friendly service.
Two courses for £11! Beer extra.
With this price and quality - highly recommended.

Next night we sought out La Sosta, Carlisle Road in Derry. Described to us as authentically Italian, we were not disappointed. The ambience was gentle, in contrast to Flaming Jacks and the food was excellent.
My starter was marrowfat pea and asparagus risotto. Creamy and the addition of the marrowfat peas (a favourite) made it a little different. My main course was ravioli . Beautifully presented and tasted superb. Friendly and attentive service.
Two courses plus Peroni lager £25.
Recommended.
But was is more than twice as good as Flaming Jacks?

Then, as a finale, over to The Lime Tree at Limavaddy. Here we get serious about food. Three courses - mushroom soup was okay, but then onto two real delights. My main course was a spinach and sun dried tomato roulade with beautifully cooked vegetables. The acid test of a good restaurant can be measured by the quality of vegetables presented and the quality of the bread brought to table. The vegetables were just right, I liked the cauliflower in a light batter and the lyonnaise potato was excellent. And the wheaten soda bread was gorgeous. You know I like good bread! Then onto a wonderful seville orange sponge and vanilla pod custard. I was now officially in heaven.

It was great to meet owners Stanley and Maria who clearly have a mission to bring great, locally sourced food to this corner of County Londonderry.

Three courses and Stella Artois lager £26.

I love The Lime Tree and would recomend anyone in County Londonderry or Armargh to go out of their way to visit.

derry soda bread

2009-04-09T21:20:00.006+01:00

>
Just back from Derry, Northern Ireland: a 'must visit' place.

Each culture has its own bread tradition and in Ireland, the soda bread tradition is strong.

Soda breads are not made with yeasts but with bicarbonate of soda as the raising agent. The bread has a distinctly different texture and flavour. One real advantage of soda bread is that the mixture is immediately placed in the oven without the time needed to 'prove' yeast doughs.

I just had to go into this wonderful small bakers and bought this large fruit scone and ate it without butter.

The other pictured loaf is a wheaten bread - the traditional soda bread made with a mixture of white and brown flours and buttermilk raised with bicarbonate of soda.

Since I changed the template for this blog, I've lost the code for the tracking data. Is there anyone out there?!

dumb waiter?

2009-04-02T20:38:00.004+01:00

At The Lakeside, for mum's 80th birthday.

I had a vine tomato and pepper soup followed by an open lasagne. The lasagne was tasty but too stuffed with sun dried tomatoes for my taste. Tomato soup followed by sun dried tomatoes. My face was becoming florid by the end of the meal.
And this left me wondering about the lost art of waiting at table.

There was a time, I am led to believe, when front of house carried as much status as cooking. It was a profession to be honoured, with its own skills. The waiter's advice was sought after and he had status.

In modern times, those who wait at table merely take orders and bring and collect dishes. They have become little more than the culinary equivalent of shelf-stackers.

Why didn't my waiter advise me that both dishes were heavy on the tomatoes? It could be, of course, that I absolutely live for tomatoes and want them with every course. It is, after all, a free country, and who are we to sniff at such tomatoholics who wish to indulge their scarlet passion?

There are many more people for whom tomatoes followed by tomatoes would be too many tomatoes and I find myself in that constituency.

So, bring back the waiter.

Tesco Butternut and cranberry roasts

2009-03-25T22:34:00.002Z

I know what you're thinking. I'm thinking it too.

"What can I buy from the supermarket to feed my hungry vegetarian"?

Well, in this post I won't tell you what you can buy, but I'll tell you what you must, most certainly, never, ever buy... That is Tesco Butternut and cranberry roasts. 'Mixed vegetable patties with pumpkin and sunflower seeds flavoured with maple syrup'.

The box shows an appealing concoction. If I were less of a drongo I would have photographed what the actual thing looked like as it was placed on my plate.

Imagine a slice of some bland, grey extrusion. It looked and tasted just so.

But then I examined the packaging.. and this is where Tesco have been very clever. Nowhere could I find this described as food. I made the mistake of eating it.

tamatangas, corner house, nottingham

2009-03-21T08:44:00.004Z

Off to see Pete Docherty (late of The Libertines and Babyshambles) at Rock City, Nottingham on Wednesday. Last time I was at Rock City (to see Dawn Trader) I suffered a collapsed lung. Oh, happy times..

Warmed up with first visit to Tamatangas. It is a city fast food place based on the Wagamamas noodle bar formula.

Let me report (lest previous posts have suggested that a curmudgeon is emerging from the caterpillar of positivity that is me) that I loved Tomatangas.

Staff excellent and helpful.

I had a vegetable thali and it was great! Usual rice, chick peas, dhall, paneer, bits of poppadom, bhaji etc..... with glass of fizzy lager total cost £11.00 per head with Gourmet card discount.

Will be coming back. Wagamamas - sit up!

Docherty - loved by the exuberant, bodysurfing, beer throwing crowd. Libertines and Babyshambles stuff received with delight, lost pace with some songs from new cd. But, nice one Pete.

the hemlockstone, wollaton, nottingham

2009-03-20T15:03:00.003Z

We all have off days. I certainly do. The poor old Hemlock Stone in Wollaton certainly did on Monday.

First impressions are promising. Cask marque bitter and pleasing decor. But this quickly became a case of 'fur coat, no knickers' as we would coarsely put it in Nottingham.

I know I sound like the customer from hell here - but really, the service at this place was atrocious.

Here goes.........

I started with a pint of Adnams Southwold bitter. At this cask marque pub I expected a good pint. This was tired and lacked life.

Mum and dad are now in their eighties and so we had asked for a table away from any large parties if possible. Background noise from large parties sometimes spoils their enjoyment. In the otherwise empty pub we were placed next to a party of ten.

My soup of the day was leek and potato. Who put the strong cheese in it?? What was that strange note that lingered in the palate? My guess was that cream had been added that was past its best. It had to go back - I couldn't bear another spoonful after the third.

Then onto a tomato pasta. This was pasta its best by some time. The pasta was overcooked and amorphous, the tomato sauce a strange gloop ... and it came to the table dressed with Parmesan without them asking if I wanted it.

Others found their new potatoes sauteed or no vegetables offered.

Then they gave us the bill for the party of ten.....

Then they changed the bill but still tried to charge us for the soups that had been sent back.

£10 for a poor main course and a pint of flat bitter. Get me back to the Caunton Beck.

Avoid this place.

are they taking the ...?

2009-03-17T15:32:00.003Z

Back to the Caunton Beck for another try at their delicious menu. You may remember that last time I didn't get round to working out the cost. I did this time and it hit me like a train.

But before that...

My starter was a cream of onion soup with rosemary. Nothing special there, in fact our own roasted butternut squash soup with homemade white bread with sunflower and pumpkin seeds at lunch was its equal, at least.

Then onto a pithivier. I did complain that our chefs are giving us the same each time we unfold the serviette - but not this time. My choice was almost unpronounceable to some in the party. In case you are new to the pithivier world, mine was a beautifully presented flaky pastry base with roasted peppers and mozzarella cheese. It came with mashed potato, new potatoes and vegetables. Bravo Mr Chef! Although rather dry and didn't knock my tonsils back with taste, (I'm a northern boy and like my dinners moist!) it was a change.

My dessert was a posh variation on ice cream and cake. The Caunton Beck is one of these smart places that offers a complementary wine with each menu choice. Peter gets me up to all sorts of mischief and we had a complementary dessert wine. Quite what we chose to accompany our dessert I haven't a clue. But it was very good.

But then came the sting. Are you ready for this??

Understand that I also had two pints of excellent Castle Rock Golden Pale bitter... Others had wine or hogsheads of beer ........ but the cost with tip was a staggering £40.00 per head!! I wish I was an expert at HTML and could make that figure flash in neon colours accompanied by a klaxon. The cost of the meals without drinks was averaged at £27.50, although actual cost of veggie main courses would bring this down a bit.

Enter the Caunton Beck with care and not too thirsty, unwary diners...!

I pass the test...........

2009-03-13T22:49:00.004Z

In November 2007 I crossed to the dark side and became vegetarian.
I wondered then how long this would last and whether I would be able to pass the ultimate test: a visit to the famous Magpie Cafe in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England.

The Magpie is known throughout the land as the place to get the best fish and chips. Believe me when I tell you that their fish is gorgeous. Would I be able to visit and not eat the fish?????

I visited The Magpie on Wednesday and here I am with chips and mushy peas. No fish.

wholemeal, honey, wheatgerm and soya rolls

2009-03-08T18:55:00.005Z

How satisfying it is to take rolls, hot from the oven.

The original recipe for these came from 'The Whole Earth Cookbook' by Cadwallader and Orr.

When I began breadmaking during the bakers' strike of 1978, this was one of the recipes I tried.

The inclusion of a little organic soya flour and honey gives the rolls a lovely, sweet taste.

As a sloppy cook, I never measure anything out but guess that the ingredients resemble these quantities

350 g organic strong wholemeal flour
100 g organic strong white flour
1 tablespoon organic honey
2 tablespoons of wheatgerm
2 tablespoons organic soya flour
1 tablespoon organic sunflower oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 sachet of dried yeast
400 ml warm water
100ml milk.

The kneaded dough was cut into 2 oz pieces for these rolls.

I know I'm mixing Imperial and metric measures .. but this is my blog and I'm the editor!

The Lambley, Lambley, Nottingham

2009-02-28T04:05:00.009Z

I still haven't decided just what I will do with all of this extra time I now have - that poor, non-vegetarians waste on making menu choices. I really would welcome ideas.

To the excellent Lambley in the village of that name, east of Nottingham tonight. Readers of this blog may now be spotting a predictability in the choices we vegetarians are offered. Not only did we get predictability, we got limited choice. I am guessing that our considerate chef community feel that we are so enfeebled by our vegetarianism that our meagre brains will become dazzled and confused if we are given choice or imagination in our menus! Oh no! Fetch more napkins, there's a vegetarian here who's had a nose bleed after being given too many menu choices! Didn't anyone do a risk assessment? Send me the manager!

So, tonight's starter, an absolutely delicious souffle in a creamy sauce (last eaten at The Caunton Beck). Now hang on a second there boy, this is a bit unfair, because there was the choice of a caesar salad or a soup, so I'll reign my criticism back there. A bit. It really was good.

Then on to an equally tasty wild mushroom risotto (last eaten at The Broadway). This was very good food, but tell me, chefs of Nottinghamshire, why can't you think of something else for me to eat?? Is there such a seasonal surplus of local mushrooms at this time of year (February!) that we are compelled by statute to use them up? Will our main arterial roads become impassable if we all don't 'do our bit' to consume this fungal menace before it overtakes the world?? Will ambulances be unable to reach the elderly? Will schools be closed?

'Vegetarians are called on to eat our way out of this mushroom crisis before it becomes more catastrophic than the credit crunch' Gordon Brown.

I pondered this over two rather feeble glasses of limp bottled Buddweiser lager. Quite why a place like the Lambley can't offer at least one decent cask conditioned traditional British beer I do not know.

So, neither the brainpower required to navigate myself through a complex menu choice, or large quantities of strong ale can be blamed for my attempting to use the Ladies toilet - which was clearly labelled. My apologies to other restaurant users for this gaffe.

£22.00 including tip.

The Broadway, Broad Street, Nottingham

2009-02-25T19:24:00.003Z

The Broadway, Broad Street, Nottingham is a great place to watch a film and have some good food at a reasonable price. The Broadway is our independent place in the city for alternative films.
Went there and got a 'Broadway Bite' ticket for Revolutionary Road and had an excellent mushroom risotto for £11.00. More vegetarian choices than meat! Well done Broadway!

Great beer too! The excellent local brew from Castle Rock - Hemlock - and then one of my all time favourites for purely sentimental reasons - Exmoor Gold. I remember dragging the kids around the brewery many years ago and drinking the brew straight from the barrel.

And then they played the fabulous Felice Brothers CD!

Sublime!

is organic leek, potato and mushroom soup garnished with chopped chive

2009-02-15T13:24:00.001Z

Today's soup is organic leek, potato and mushroom soup garnished with chopped chives and served with freshly baked wholemeal bread enriched with wheatgerm, pumpkin seeds and linseed.

Oh yes, my Lord!

organic wholemeal bread with wheatgerm, linseed and pumpkin seeds

2009-02-08T22:39:00.004Z

Today's bread was made from organic wholemeal flour with wheatgerm, linseed and pumpkin seeds added.

I rolled the finished dough in oat bran for a rustic effect.

It tasted as good as it looked!

The Caunton Beck, Caunton, Newark.

2009-02-01T11:49:00.008Z

Sorry that this side of the blog has been somnolent for two months.

I haven't been in prison- just missed the opportunity to tell you how well -or badly- La Capanna, Sherwood; Banyan Tree, Redhill; Higoi, Nottingham; Dogma, Nottingham; Modhu Mitha, Mansfield; Broadway, Nottingham meet the needs of vegetarians.

Anyway, hope I'm back into it now and reporting on The Caunton Beck, Caunton, Newark. A pleasantly fitted pub separated into dining room and bar areas. Full marks to the staff who were excellent.

Now I have to tell you at the outset that Paul set a blistering pace with the beers and that Andy was on his shoulder throughout. I was a lightweight last night and lost credibility in the testosterone chase, falling at an early fence! They quaffed and I watched. Still, great Bateman's bitter was enjoyed by us all.

Get on with it! Put simply, Caunton Beck is recommended.

I know, I know ... when I tell you I had Goats Cheese tart for starter you'll say ... again???
I would have liked something different ...... but as these things go, it was okay.

Next, my main course was a cheese souffle in Roquefort creamy sauce X 2. It was another starter option and I had it for main so doubled up. I like a good souffle and these were good. Of course, I couldn't eat much of the second one and left gallons of the beautiful creamy sauce - once again doing nothing for my credibility. Small bowl of veggies to share, plus boiled and mashed potatoes.

Good food - but cheese for starter and main may not be so good if you're watching your cholesterol!!! I might need to now.

As for the cost - I'll have to come back to that. There was enough beer drunk to fill a bath, and that was reflected in the bill. I'll try and remember where I put the chit.

savoury bread and butter pudding

2008-12-05T15:19:00.000Z

Homemade bread is just the best you can get.

But. It isn't laced with chemicals and preservatives and is made with real yeast. And the problem is - it doesn't keep.

On Sunday I'd got a loaf from the freezer and several slices had been left out.

So - enter the old World War 2 Austerity Cookbook solution with a twist. In the Second World War, food was rationed and every scrap of food had to be used. Bread and butter pudding was a popular way of using up old bread and is a traditional English dessert.

Buttered slices of white bread in layers with raisins and sugar.

Pour on an egg and milk mix.

Leave to soak and then bake in a hot oven.

Our twist is

Buttered slices of wholemeal and seed bread in layers with oven roasted seasonal vegetables (own grown carrots, onions, pumpkin, garlic etc. plus some sliced peppers)
Grated cheese (Wensleydale was available)
Pour on an egg and milk mix.
Leave to soak and then bake in a hot oven.

After a wintery walk, a very satisfying warmer with homegrown calabrese and crunchy roast potatoes.

and now to bottling my ginger beer

2008-11-29T09:54:00.005Z

For ten days I added a teaspoon each of ginger and sugar.

The resulting 'plant' was as fascinating to watch as an aquarium. Bubbles of carbon dioxide would cause the contents to rise in the liquid, and then like a large ginger cloud, there would be ginger precipitation to the bottom of the jar until the cloud had dissipated. Then the whole would slowly rise again.

Much greater entertainment value than the latest t.v.

And then........to bottling.

Yeast plant strained through muslin.

Liquid added to boiled water in which sugar had been dissolved and lemon juice added.

Six pints of cold water poured in...

And we wait for two weeks, but while we wait we now have two ginger beer 'plants' for entertainment in the long dark winter evenings. His and hers.

ginger beer

2008-11-25T12:19:00.000Z

Tea. Enid Blyton. Fruit cake. Ginger beer. All quintessentially English.

At Peter and Chris's I drained a couple of glasses of his excellent ginger beer. He'd bought his from M&S and of course I think about making it.

Ginger beer is a non alcoholic carbonated drink. The high ginger content makes it tangy and tasty.

So, here we have the beginnings of ginger beer.

A sachet of white wine yeast added to half a pint of warm water and two tablespoons each of castor sugar and ginger powder.

Each day for the next ten add a teaspoon of sugar and one of ginger powder. Here we have the 'plant' after a week.

Next week I must find time to strain the contents through a t-towel and then add the liquid to boiled and cooled water and sugar. Then into bottles and left somewhere cool for a couple of weeks. ready for Christmas.

Doona Nook seal colony ......and Perkins Pantry, Louth

2008-11-22T22:33:00.004Z

Britain's largest mainland breeding atlantic grey seal colony is north of Mablethorpe on the Lincolnshire coast at Donna Nook.
This is the site of a Royal Air Force bombing range - but this strange area is the place that over one thousand seal pups are born each winter.

And now is the best time to see them. This year, our visit was marked by freezing northerly winds that brought stinging sleet and rain. With wind chill we were certainly into minus figures for the first time this winter. Cold!

But even in those conditions, Donna Nook was truly inspirational. Nowhere else on the British mainland can one get within touching distance of new born seal pups. Of course, it would be an idiot who actually tried! Nowhere else can one hear the eerie moaning of the adults and the cries of the babies or witness the immense and powerful presence of the adult bulls so close.

And then to the little town of Louth for something to eat. Hurrah for Trev and Linda who had searched out a little place that promised vegetarian food and gluten free for the awkward member of the party!

Our arrival at Perkins Pantry in Louth was marked by a wall of such welcome warmth! The service from proprietor Sue was equal to the warmth that saw us quickly removing many of the extra layers of clothing we had needed to put on.

I wish I could report that Perkins Pantry continued to be as excellent as our first impressions. One of our reasons for chosing the place was because of its claim to offer gluten free options (GFO). It did offer them, repeatedly. But always withdrew them.
Example..
I would like the GFO pie - can you tell me how the pastry is made if it is gluten free?
Ah, no, the pastry isn't gluten free: ditto sausages, ditto desert options..

We were left wondering how food could claim to be gluten free when it wasn't

My veggie choice is pictured - vegetarian sausages and potato hash. Average. Not full of flavour .. but then again I am used to organic potatoes I've grown myself.

Once again, excellent service... but...

Broadway Cinema, Broad Street, Nottingham

2008-11-09T19:59:00.004Z

Nottingham's independent cinema is the Broadway. I'm not as regular a visitor there as I would like to be, but this Saturday I managed it.
The Broadway has a nice little cafe/bar and I was delighted to find that I had many vegetarian choices for my main meal. The cinema has a special meal arrangement called 'Broadway Bites' that delivers extra value to the cinema goer on a budget. I chose a chick pea curry. It came with amorphous white rice, but for £20.00 for two main meals and two cinema tickets, I'm not going to complain. Also, pleasing choice of beer: I chose hand-pulled Elsie Mo from our local Castle Rock brewery.

But watch out everyone, irony is approaching fast!

Having filled myself with beer and curry, we then went in to see 'Hunger'. This is an account of the Northern Ireland IRA hunger strikers and deals with the death of Bobby Sands during the time of 'the dirty protest' when prisoners were seeking 'political status'. Remember that they refused prison clothing and only had blankets. They smeared their cell walls with their faeces and poured their urine out into the corridor on a given signal. And, of course, such committed men met equally committed and harsh resistance from the prison staff. This is no 'Abba-the movie' but a harrowing account of a terrible time in our county's recent history.

Probably not the best judged Saturday night entertainment for a man and his wife.

scrambled egg on toast

2008-11-02T18:24:00.005Z

It is the Hindhu festival of Annakut. Happy New Year!

It is one year since I became 100% vegetarian at the Annakut Harvest celebration 2007. And I'm feeling good! No meat cravings and hopefully not too much of the zeal and proselytising of the recently converted!

So, to celebrate ......delicious scrambled eggs. Just look at the colour you get when your hens only eat the best organic vegetarian food and free range on delicious grass.

This seasonal and regional malarky is all well and good, until one of your favourites is no longer in season: I used our last two bantam eggs today. They have stopped laying and won't be laying again until February.

The little princesses are thoroughly miserable in this damp and dark weather. Their youthful exuberance of former years is now tempered by their preference to keep their feathers and feet dry. After a disconsolate peck around the garden, they return to their little hen house and watch me through the door hole.

Sorry girls, but it will be a bit miserable for the next few months. And no more home laid bantam eggs until around my birthday for me, I'm afraid.

But another year of delicious and ethical vegetarian food awaits.

new harp inn, hoarwithy, hereford

2008-10-30T09:05:00.004Z

You can tell 'foody' places the moment you arrive. Trumpeting local produce, giving the provenance of ingredients, seasonal too. That is the New Harp Inn - but nothing worthy - a warm welcome, excellent service and delightful food.

We both began with a creamy carrot and coriander soup. For her - not quite carroty enough. We are used to our own , organic carrots so the bar is set pretty high. Me- I enjoyed but both disappointed with the unimaginative plain white bread to accompany.

On to main courses - she a goats cheese tart. Mine was a wonderful blue cheese and cauliflower risotto. Sooo tasty, the memory of it lasted for the next day. Really good. The only problem with risotto is that there is not variety. The first forkful is the same as every other one. In this case - that was welcome!

Meals and usual modest drinks £19.20 per head. This is not a cheap place.

Would come again. Recommended.

squeek restaurant, heathcote street, nottingham

2008-10-18T11:10:00.009+01:00

A happy return to the excellent Squeek Restaurant in Nottingham.
This is a welcoming, bohemian restaurant tucked away close to Nottingham's Hockley. The door proclaimed that the restaurant was fully booked on Friday and Saturday - always a good sign and encouraging to know that there is demand for exclusively vegetarian food. The place is popular with young people........ but that shouldn't necessarily put us off our food!

You can guess you're in for a treat when the drinks choices include bottled Smiths Organic Best Ale. My drink of the night. 'I wish they did it on draught hand pull!' says the Utopian.

All salads were organic. Beat that!!

From an excellent range of starter choices I chose:
Lincolnshire grown organic romero pepper,roasted and filled with spinach artichokes and chestnuts topped with melted Shropshire Blue Cheese served with a green salad.

Sounded and tasted great. Good combination of flavours that prepared me for my main course superbly. I think that, in retrospect, I should have dwelt longer on it to do it justice. But perhaps the speed of eating is the greatest compliment of all!

Once again, the main courses were a dazzling choice. My main course was:
Fresh fig basil and goats cheese tart served with autumn root mash a broad bean and red pepper salad. Pictured

Enjoyable, but I am not a fan of cold mash. And the tart, although very good and tasty was not exceptional. I had imagined a mini tart made with a shortcrust pastry base. It came enclosed in flaky pastry and just did not ring my bells completely. Not as memorable as my main course on my last visit. And broad beans in October? Are they seasonal in Britain?

The beast in me then went for desert, which was a plum crumble served with ice cream. Good, but once again, not exceptional. I make a mean old crumble myself and so tend to be hypercritical about one of my nations signature deserts. Nevertheless, a satisfying end.

The bill came and Jill pointed to the bottom of the bill suggesting we paid 10% of that as the tip. Jill - that was a drawing of a mouse! How do we pay two ears and a set of whiskers and part of a tail? Put your reading glasses on woman. The cost per head with Gourmet Society discount total was £16.00 per person including drinks.

.........But come on there. This is a great little restaurant and we enjoyed our meal and the company too. And we'll be back I can tell you!

La Tonnara Hotel Restaurant Bar Procida Italy

2008-10-10T19:57:00.012+01:00

To La Tannora, on Procida island, in the Bay of Naples this week. A European Union funded study visit!

........And the poor chef had no warning that a very rare bird, a vegetarienne Inglaise, would be settling with him for the week.

A chance to put one of the worlds leading gastronomic nations to a completely unscientific and unfair test!

The first and overfacing challenge was explaining non-meat in a full-on, meat culture.
The second challenge was the Italian style of presenting dishes serially rather than several together.

The best of La Tannora was a delicious hot fusili pasta dish served simply with warmed fresh cherry tomatoes cooked in olive oil with a sprig of basil. Just right! The principle that the best meals are made from the simplest, freshest seasonal ingredients and not over-complicated was seen in this dish (pictured left). Here, vegetarian and local food cultures met harmoniously. Carnivores looked hungrily at what was offered to me and secretly wished their meal could be as tasty while at the same time causing no distress to animals.

Another obvious success was simply prepared and dressed green salad. Gorgeous! Oh yes, and there was a good bean salad made with beans very similar to the Horsehead variety I've had problems growing recently.

The other side of my experience was where food cultures clashed.

It is the tradition in this region to serve cooked vegetables cold. It is also the tradition to serve dishes one after the other. This presented the chef with a challenge and he appeared to lose all judgment serving me with a plate of cold cooked spinach. It tasted almost as good as it sounds, believe me. I defy even Popeye to eat that with relish. Actually, relish (or any other accompaniment) would have been an improvement. The half lemon squeezed onto the congealed mass did little to lift the sorry and sodden plateful. A clash of culinary cultures. This dish would have graced a buffet for bovines, but little else.

But there was a silver lining. The cold spinach gave fellow study visitors from across the EU the chance to laugh to the power of three.

Laugh at the vegetarian.
Laugh at the Italians.
Laugh at the English.

And laugh they did. Reference to my spinach meal continued to cause ripples of mirth to Dutch, French, Swedes and Portugese throughout the week.

So, perhaps this dish was a resounding success after all!

I am always banging on about seasonal, organic and local. We got the seasonal, but I took photos of gardens full of interesting salad crops but we received Iceberg lettuce in my salad. Oh well.

Some odd food to an alien palate ...... missed opportunities ........ and some lovely, simple dishes that were a delight.

cheese scones made with free range bantam eggs.........

2008-10-05T14:51:00.003+01:00

Every High Street in Britain has its own Indian or Chinese restaurant. It will also have several pizza places and Italian restaurants.

Our own traditions are sometimes overlooked as we rush to embrace all that is new or exotic.

So, here we are, in the cold weather of autumn and need warming soups to fill us at lunchtime. What better accompaniment than traditional cheese scones? And where better to find the recipe than within the covers of that little British institution - 'The Be-Ro Cookbook'. Be-Ro is a brand of flour, and for the last fifty years its collection of homely staples has been a must read.

So, here are cheese scones, made with white self-raising flour. I'm not sure whether the photo does their colour justice. But those eating wondered why they were so yellow?

The answer lies in the little princesses who live down the bottom of the garden. Their free range eggs have yolks of the deepest yellow I have ever seen. All natural, no additives and only organic, of course.

So, I give you, my cheese scones made with free range bantam eggs.........

Ve Ray, York Road, Shiptonthorpe

2008-09-28T13:40:00.006+01:00

Up to the republic of Yorkshire for a lovely weekend with Chris and Peter.

Our evening meal was at the excellent Ve Ray Restaurant on York Road, Shiptonthorpe.

In many ways, the folk of Yorkshire are like the rest of us, and include in that a liking for curry. The place was full.

As with most curry houses, they served the anglicised 'Indian' menu with hindi names for dishes even though they billed themselves as Bangladeshi.

I started unimaginatively with the onion bhajis - 'same old, same old' you might think, but when a man is hungry, he'll go for what he likes with his Kingfisher lager. And I liked.
Jill, however had vegetable pakora, which were not cooked in the middle.

A good range of vegetarian main courses were presented, but typically perversely, we asked for a main meal of four side dishes with pilau rice and naan. Aloo sag (potatoes and spinach); dry vegetables that came without a sauce but were spiced beautifully; a tarka dahl (creamy lentils) and chickpeas. Gorgeous! Top marks! I could eat dahl and rice everyday! If the recession continues, I might have to!

The restaurant was smart and modern and had recovered well from a thorough dousing whena nearby beck flooded. And the service was excellent too: friendly, speedy and attentive.

£12.50 per head including coffees, drinks and tip.

And then Islay malts back home.

Loved it!

allsorts of challenges for a vegetarian

2008-09-26T21:28:00.004+01:00

My confectionery of choice has always been licorice. Mmmmmmm, juicy black licorice. And those speckled ones in pink and blue in the Allsorts box. Keep your chocolate. Licorice every time.

Until you read the label.

Bovine gelatin. The boiled up stuff from cows bones to you and me. How tasty in a vegetarians sweetie box.

So that's it. I had been given a large box. 'Get your laughing gear around that lot', I thought. Until my eyes lighted on the bovine bit. Colleagues devoured the box at one sitting without qualms.

Just hoping that that utterly irresistible soft Australian licorice contains nothing bovine. Australian? Probably not.

national college for school leadership

2008-09-21T12:42:00.006+01:00

A conference at Nottingham's National College for School Leadership. What would the food be like?

Well, first impressions were not encouraging. I passed the entrance to the kitchens and was worried to see the protection on the outer doors, designed to keep insects out, was draped over the opened door, letting all things creepy crawly inside. Not a good start. In the gloss of the NCSL building, would it turn out to be 'Fur coat, no knickers'?.... But a bit of muck never hurt anyone, so I went into my evening meal with an open mind.

Of course, a limited range of options for the veggie minority. But think of the time I save not having to worry about what to order! I'm contemplating taking up a hobby that can use the time saved by not having to pore over a menu, dazzled by the choices before me. Hobby ideas welcomed.

Anyway, the grub arrived.....

Someone commented on the greenness of my pea soup. It is the non-green pea soup I worry about. The comment was made by someone who retired with a migraine shortly after...
'We don't see the world as it is, but rather as we are.'

My main course will live long in my memory. Noodles with a fried egg on top. What????? Who has ever heard of such a concoction? Nothing really done with the noodles apart from adding a few over boiled bits of veg. Let me tell you that it tasted as good as it sounded. Pot noodle meets greasy spoon!

The afters were excellent. My pannacotta with pineapple was exquisitely presented. easily the best part of the meal.

Which page of the 'Guild of Master Chefs' cookbook was fried egg on noodles on? I bet the book doesn't fall open at that page!

fox and hounds, blidworth bottoms, nottinghamshire

2008-09-21T12:26:00.006+01:00

A walk in Clumber park, followed by a meal at our favourite local, The Fox and Hounds in the rural hamlet of Blidworth Bottoms.
A page of vegetarian options - well done! And good beer. Another tick.
I had a cottage pie with vegetables and cheese. Not a lot of finesse, but tasty and good value.

Delighted to see that the pub was busy. Doubly delighted to see local sportsman Russell Draycott enjoying the atmosphere. Russell is developing a new cycling endurance event for London 2012 paralymics. You heard it here first.
He's not lost any of his common touch, despite his cycling success.

Squeek Restaurant, Nottingham..

2008-09-13T23:45:00.005+01:00

It was Linda's recommendation that took us back to Squeek Restaurant, Heathcote Street in Nottingham.

And what a wonderful experience! Choice! Flavour!

The restaurant is bohemian in character. I like bohemian. The service was friendly and efficient.

Spoilt for choice from an imaginative menu, I went for the oven baked butternut squash with cashews and an excellent salad. It was one of those meals that was so satisfying I was thinking about it two days later! My desert was smoked cheese and fruit cake. By gum lad, I thought I was in the republic of Yorkshire for a moment! But they wouldn't countenance fancy smoked cheese up there.

What a lovely meal.......

And to crown it all, we got a discount due to mum's Gourmet Society card and dad's bus pass!!!!!

Five meals, each of two courses and drinks was £66 after discount. I gave a decent tip!

You'll be seeing me again Squeek!

Piccolino Restaurant

2008-08-30T10:14:00.004+01:00

To Piccolino Restaurant on Weekday Cross in Nottingham's fashionable Lace Market. This is a bustling and popular restaurant and it was my first visit.

I had Tortelloni ai funghi that described itself as an 'Artisan hand made pasta filled with wild mushrooms and ricotta cheese served with mascarpone, flat parsley and toasted pine nuts'
cost £10.50.

I had a salad of rocket leaves and tomatoes with a delicious dressing.

This was an excellent meal. Full of flavour and well cooked and presented. Well done Piccolino.

I'll be coming back for more!

gorgeous gougere

2008-08-27T21:24:00.002+01:00

It's easy to take pot shots at restaurants that serve unimaginative vegetarian food.

So here's tonights dinner.

Late back from the allotment having spent six or seven hours working down there. But came back with loads of goodies and was determined to eat them!

Jacket potato (Kestrel)
Brocolli (Calabrese: Chevalier) and baby carrots (Autumn King)
Gougere - choux pastry and filling of leek (Musselborough), courgette (Green Defender?), tomatoes (from Tesco -failure!), sprig of bay and garlic (Marco). Add roasted pine nuts and top with Colston Basset Blue Stilton.

Gorgeous!

the leisure lounge, hucknall, nottingham

2008-08-25T01:11:00.006+01:00

On the Rolls Royce site in Hucknall, Nottingham is The Leisure Lounge. Rolls Royce is synonymous with luxury and high quality.

Let's not spend too much time on this.

A delightful family evening.
A pleasant setting.

Utterly shocking food.

Just look at it. You would be reluctant to feed it to your pets.

I didn't photograph the accompanying chips and new potatoes.

Congratulations Ammerdown

2008-08-12T10:38:00.004+01:00

At Ammerdown Retreat in Somerset England this past weekend.

As well as feeling thoroughly calmed by a weekend with the meditation fellowship, was delighted by the food. In fact more than delighted.
We were told that vegetarians must always go to the front of the food queue because their choice was the one everyone wanted.
So, to the front of the queue I went! And I was not disappointed. Unfortunately, I was so calmed by the whole experince that I didn't make a note of the choices. let me tell you they were very good indeed.

How great not to be made to feel a second class citizen!

Congratulations Ammerdown.

the nottingham belfry hotel

2008-06-20T18:03:00.007+01:00

Yesterday I stayed at The Nottingham Belfry Hotel.

To begin our evening meal we all had a roasted tomato soup. There was no choice. Then my plate of lamb and overcooked vegetables came. I reminded the pleasant young waiter that I was a vegetarian and he told me there was no vegetarian option and that no one had booked. Not a single vegetarian in a party of over fifty? What about my letter of confirmation? It seems that common sense and communication are not strengths at The Nottingham Belfry Hotel.

Well, I did get something. A small bowl of risotto with two roasted cherry tomatoes. Roasted tomatoes again? I was lucky to have 'em! That was it. I had to take my bowl around the other diners on my table to take vegetables from their plates and then scavenge around other tables for uneaten rolls to fill me up.

Now, I am not typically English. I do complain, but couldn't find my pleasant young waiter - and gave up. The disgraceful service had by now become a huge joke to us all. When our desert came and I got four profiteroles like everyone else, it was suggested that my fellow diners take one or two from my plate to follow the pattern already established.

you've got a friend in me......

2008-06-07T06:46:00.002+01:00

Here is the friendship cake cooked.
Fortunately, it is about to be frozen, and hopefully stowed away in the forgotten bottom of the freezer, where I can't find it.

you've got a friend

2008-06-06T20:47:00.003+01:00

Cakes I never thought I'd taste again - part 1!

There once circulated around the family and neighbours 'friendship cake'. A cup of starter was given and this was fed with flour and sugar over several days.

The starter was then used to make into a delicious cake made with spices and apple. The remaining starter was split to get a new starter going and the rest was given to friends.

Well, two weeks ago, quite unexpectedly, friends gave us some 'friendship cake' starter.

It is, essentially, a sourdough starter. Those used to breadmaking will know that, before yeasts were available for breadmaking, a 'starter' of water, yeast and flour was nurtured and used for breadmaking. Flour and water was added and the yeast multiplied. Some of the starter was used to make the bread and the remaining starter kept to grow on for the next breadmaking. The resulting bread is tangy and flavoursome. It is very popular on the continent and in the states. The Piligrim fathers took sourdough starters over to the New World when the travelled on the Mayflower.

Well, here is the starter bubbling away as it was several days ago.

Down in the kitchen is the finished cake. I'm afraid it has had to be frozen. I want to eat it all!

cheesed off at 4 wood street, mansfield

2008-05-30T07:51:00.004+01:00

My previous visit to Mansfield’s best hidden restaurant was memorable: excellent food, service and ambience. And at a reasonable price thanks to our Gourmet Club 25% discount card!

How would 4 Wood Street fare now that I had moved over to the veggie side?

4 Wood Street is as stylish as ever. The old stone building has been converted into an excellent restaurant. The steep stairs give those with wobbly knees a real sense of achievement because it is worth the climb.

The lounge area is furnished with comfortable sofas and the service was efficient.

But what about the grub?

There was a small, complimentary cup of onion and garlic soup to get us going. Nice touch!

Then, onto the choice of two veggie starters – a soup and a goats cheese salad. I chose the goats cheese. It came as a land mass, flavoured with beetroot accompanied by a salad of dressed leaves. The goat’s cheese stretched on forever and there was insufficient contrast in flavours to make it interesting. I didn’t finish. A disappointing 5/10.

The main course was pumpkin and cheese balls with a dressed salad. What, more cheese and dressed salad? Perhaps some vegetarians lack stamina and can only make it through one course. I like a full meal and so was disappointed that menu planning hadn’t considered that cheese followed by cheese may not be a good balance. And salad followed by another salad??

What we had was a large starter as a main course. Once again there was insufficient variety in taste or texture. I finished – but once again had to give it a disappointing 5/10.

My dessert was not cheesecake!!! I had rice pudding but wished I’d chosen the spectacular looking strawberries!

Rice pudding can be special but this one scored 6/10.

And while I’m in my flow, let’s have seasonal, local and organic represented on the menu!!! So, a disappointing return to one of our best-respected local restaurants.

Vegetarians are not the priority here.

meat no more?

2008-05-29T20:31:00.002+01:00

Moments of epiphany can happen in unusual places. Mine occurred after two hours of a Hindhu harvest festival.

Cold November sleet and rain lashed down over old Nottingham but here inside a converted print works the faithful met to give thanks, to sing and pray and hear the saffron robed monks. As two hours of Guajarati on a Sunday afternoon go, this was up with the best.

As the ceremony ended I was startled from my reverie on hearing my name through the PA.

‘We have a guest here today: Mr Carlyle is here. He is president of Mornington Primary School, he has a Hindu calendar on his wall – and he is a vegetarian. He would like to say a few words’.

Let’s deal with those statements in order:

Yes – ish.

Yes

No I’m not.

Definitely not.

But I went to the front in my stockinged feet and four hundred of the faithful waited on my ‘few words’. A man of greater moral fibre would have declaimed there and then that he was not a vegetarian. A member of the congregation who had made me a chicken curry a few weeks before could have punctured my balloon at that moment. But I did not and neither did she. And I resolved at that moment, in that holy place, with the monks and their congregation as my witness, that I would not be a hypocrite. I would be a vegetarian from that moment on.

My family had been vegetarian for over twenty years. Under this stiletto dictatorship few steaks cooked in our kitchen. A modest fish finger sandwich would induce retching in the masses. A less-sensitive human being would probably have grilled on regardless but I had got used to a largely meat free diet and so the move to not eating meat at all was not a giant leap. If I’m honest, I’d known it was going to happen.

But why??????

First of all, I am not against killing animals. In fact I do it myself. I set a rat trap by the compost bins; I crush asparagus beetles between thumb and forefinger, stamp on snails and collect caterpillars in a jar for the hens to eat. If I was allowed, I would shoot the wood pigeons that destroy my broccoli and do the same for the ubiquitous and fat grey squirrels that are a pest everywhere. We have three bantam hens in the back garden and when their brothers were knecked and eaten I felt this was entirely right. We have become denatured as a society and no longer understand that we must kill. No, killing isn’t a problem.

And eating meat is not a problem. I love it! When my friend chose a Gloucester Old Spot pork sausage roll packed with meat I sat by him asking him to describe each mouthful. I made sure he had enough brown sauce.

My vegetarianism is driven by the ways in which modern meat is produced and brought to the table.

The transport from one end of the country to another of live animals for slaughter is plainly wrong. These animals have been taken from an environment with which they are familiar and then driven hundreds of miles in cramped and frightening conditions. I remember watching a double-decker animal transporter waiting in the sweltering heat of a summer heat wave, its cargo of pigs baking in the sun. Transported animals are clearly unhappy. This is unnecessarily stressful and should stop.

Slaughtering on the farm, where animals have been raised, should be the way. I have seen animals in livestock markets that were terrified. I have seen cattle in pens outside slaughterhouses awaiting slaughter. You could smell their fear. Slaughter does not have to be mechanised and brutal. It is done with humanity all over the world. But not in the UK and not anymore.

And of course, methods of production are rightly being challenged. Hurrah for British farmers who rear pigs outdoors! Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver have rightly publicised intensive chicken production. It is iniquitous and unnecessary. But what of other meat production?

I remember the stench of fish food being administered to intensively-reared Scottish salmon when on Mull. We eat them after they’ve eaten that?? The whole issue of animal welfare should not be the province of the middle class foody. We should all be asking questions about how our meat is raised.

The routine use of antibiotics in intensive meat and milk production alone should give us huge concern. There is anxiety that these antibiotics, which are sometimes very similar to those we use, are transmitted to us through the meat and milk we consume. Are we routinely self-administering antibiotics every time we reach for the bucket of fried chicken?

So, we move to eating fish, until we discover that 60% of all catches are thrown back, dead, into the water because of catch restrictions to preserve stocks.

Of course there are more questions than answers. If we all consumed organic meat raised to the highest ethical standards there wouldn’t be a problem. Or possibly enough room on the planet!

So, my vegetarianism continues but it remains a challenge. I will not eat anything that has a face or a mother. I will eat infertile free range eggs and cheese made without animal rennet.

My love of good food sits awkwardly as I look from my plate to that presented to my carnivorous friends. Quite whether the resolve is firm when I visit the Magpie Café in Whitby and my friend orders fish and chips remains to be seen.