What are you cooking now?

[Zucchini]

Where did you find that, Zucchers? I can see:

"When finished, the knife and fork (with tines facing upwards) or spoon etc are placed on the plate in a six-thirty position.". agree about the tines.

Zarathustra's Etiquette & Modern Manners has drawings & descriptions of all these things & my Mum taught me 5.25, so that's it!

(I suppose if 5.25 is modern & 6.30 is ancient, S Holmes could work out the ages of the assembled diners ...)

[cloughie]

... I think it was in 1967.

Talking of 1967, 50 years and two days ago Procol Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale was released. But really what I wasvreplying on was the Prawn Cocktail Years, a really good cookbook by Simon Hopkinson, where he goes back to the menus and produces great recipes using proper ingredients. I still like a prawn cocktail but I like itvwith a viaigrette sauce rather than the pink stuff, and with bigger prawnscthan were often served up in the late 60s/early 70s. However the best one i remember having was a few years ago was in St Ives - it was with pink sauce but it was ina well filled handled beer glass. Which brings me back to Procol Harum who recorded a song way back then which title could almost have had a link to Prawn Cocktail - Juicy John Pink - however the lyrics say otherwise.

[vinteuil]

.

Talking of 1967, 50 years and two days ago Procol Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale was released...

... a lifetime ago - and yet it feels like yesterday.

the Prawn Cocktail Years, a really good cookbook by Simon Hopkinson ...

... a great man


.

[Richard Tarleton]

Talking of 1967, 50 years and two days ago Procol Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale was released. But really what I wasvreplying on was the Prawn Cocktail Years, a really good cookbook by Simon Hopkinson, where he goes back to the menus and produces great recipes using proper ingredients. I still like a prawn cocktail but I like itvwith a viaigrette sauce rather than the pink stuff, and with bigger prawnscthan were often served up in the late 60s/early 70s. However the best one i remember having was a few years ago was in St Ives - it was with pink sauce but it was ina well filled handled beer glass. Which brings me back to Procol Harum who recorded a song way back then which title could almost have had a link to Prawn Cocktail - Juicy John Pink - however the lyrics say otherwise.

I was working in a hotel kitchen in 1967, 'twixt school and university, and must have heard Whiter Shade of Pale about a million times while prepping of a morning. It was a hotel with restaurant/grill meriting 2 stars from the AA Prawn cocktail was one of the starters. When I went along for the interview (they must have been desperate) they asked me what I could cook. I said risotto, whereupon they nearly fell off their bar stools laughing, I have no idea why. There were about 8 starters, 8 mains and 8 desserts inc. Knickerbocker Glory and Chocolate Rum Surprise (choux pastry). Anyway I was a fast learner, and by the end could knock out about 60-80 starters and mains with one of the waiters covering desserts. When the local girls public school had its open day I did nothing but omelettes at lunchtime - 30-40 - to this day I make superb omelettes.

[Beef Oven!]

I was working in a hotel kitchen in 1967, 'twixt school and university, and must have heard Whiter Shade of Pale about a million times while prepping of a morning. It was a hotel with restaurant/grill meriting 2 stars from the AA Prawn cocktail was one of the starters. When I went along for the interview (they must have been desperate) they asked me what I could cook. I said risotto, whereupon they nearly fell off their bar stools laughing, I have no idea why. There were about 8 starters, 8 mains and 8 desserts inc. Knickerbocker Glory and Chocolate Rum Surprise (choux pastry). Anyway I was a fast learner, and by the end could knock out about 60-80 starters and mains with one of the waiters covering desserts. When the local girls public school had its open day I did nothing but omelettes at lunchtime - 30-40 - to this day I make superb omelettes.

Whiter Shade of Pale is a "Do you remember what you were doing when ..." event!

My dad hired a yellow Ford Anglia and crammed the family in it and took us to Eastbourne for six days. Whiter Shade of Pale was on everywhere, all the time! I must have heard it a million times! The peak of the holiday, which was dire, but made a change from Lower Clapton, was that I got a Knickerbocker Glory! I think I was six years old and it was as big as me! We didn’t have them in Hackney and on the way to the ice-cream parlour, when my dad explained what it was, I thought he was pulling my leg! To this day I don’t know where my dad got the money from!

[teamsaint]

Whiter Shade of Pale is a "Do you remember what you were doing when ..." event!

My dad hired a yellow Ford Anglia and crammed the family in it and took us to Eastbourne for six days. Whiter Shade of Pale was on everywhere, all the time! I must have heard it a million times! The peak of the holiday, which was dire, but made a change from Lower Clapton, was that I got a Knickerbocker Glory! I think I was six years old and it was as big as me! We didn’t have them in Hackney and on the way to the ice-cream parlour, when my dad explained what it was, I thought he was pulling my leg! To this day I don’t know where my dad got the money from!

I don't think I ever did get a knickerbocker glory. Sounds like a great holiday.
Except the music.
They're still playing A Whiter Shade of Pale in Eastbourne , non stop. I hear it all the time on my regular business trips there.

Incidentally, is is just brigadiers and bishops you have round for a bite to eat, or do you have other high ranking public officials visit you?

[Beef Oven!]

I don't think I ever did get a knickerbocker glory. Sounds like a great holiday.
Except the music.

It was cheap and nasty and I got sun-burned. The only good things were the music and aforementioned Knickerbocker Glory (the only one I’ve ever had in my whole life). It was the biggest ice-cream I’d ever seen and I genuinely wondered how come I was getting it, my dad never had any money usually!

They're still playing A Whiter Shade of Pale in Eastbourne , non stop. I hear it all the time on my regular business trips there.

And so they should, it’s a terrific song!

Incidentally, is is just brigadiers and bishops you have round for a bite to eat, or do you have other high ranking public officials visit you?

It’s more about being prepared and not getting caught out - I wouldn’t want to be thought of as a chav.

[teamsaint]

It was cheap and nasty and I got sun-burned. The only good things were the music and aforementioned Knickerbocker Glory (the only one I’ve ever had in my whole life).



And so they should, it’s a terrific song!



It’s more about being prepared and not getting caught out - I wouldn’t want to be thought of as a chav.

I think my issues would develop if I had a variety of army officers round for a meal, and trying to figure out what was the order of importance...... colonels, brigadiers, major generals ?

As for the chav thing, just leave a few Peter Racine Fricker CDs lying around, that should stop any whispering.

[greenilex]

Very boring: fifty years ago I was just coming to the end of my first teaching job in the Cotswolds, directing MND with 11-12 year-olds on the grassy bank in front of the junior comprehensive. They will be grandparents themselves by now.

We played Mendelssohn not Procul Harum.

[cloughie]

Very boring: fifty years ago I was just coming to the end of my first teaching job in the Cotswolds, directing MND with 11-12 year-olds on the grassy bank in front of the junior comprehensive. They will be grandparents themselves by now.

We played Mendelssohn not Procul Harum.

Good to hear you played the Mendelssohn - i learned to love the work over 50 years ago, and it was the music that helped to like the play and Shakespeare more broadly. Al this getting away from cooking and I must get my items together for the show.

[Beef Oven!]

I stopped taking milk in tea years ago in Barcelona where the milk was so awful it made the tea taste terrible. Yorkshire tea, both the basic stuff and the gold are great without milk, but Lady Grey is my tea of choice. Currently doing some baking for a local show, whilst keeping a check on the Owls match.

You’re absolutely right!

I was in the process of making a cup of tea and I realised that with the medication I just took, you can’t have milk for 2 hours before or after. I don’t like waste, so I drank it and it was delicious!

Going to make another one in minute! Btw, I have Yorkshire Gold.

[BBMmk2]

Had a great venison curry on Monday, today roast chicken dinner, with all the trimmings!

[Beef Oven!]

Standard chestnut mushrooms lightly fried in olive oil on two slices of Hovis toast, no butter. Glass of pressed apple juice.

Listening to Michael Berkeley’s Concerto For Orchestra "Seascapes".
24 bit Hi-Res download. BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Hickox.

[teamsaint]

Had a great venison curry on Monday, today roast chicken dinner, with all the trimmings!

As the Small Faces pointed out, it's all or nothing with trimmings.

Anyway, enjoy !

[french frank]

Threw caution to the winds, racked the oven up to the max (270C) and shoved the Sunday pizza in. I still don't get my crust professionally thin but also the crust at the centre wasn't at all soggy. Glass of Coop French plonk (5% off as I'm a member), 2 apricots and two cans of … … stovetop coffee.

(pizza topping usual things plus Coop chargrilled artichokes and slices of chorizo). Coop didn't have their cooking chorizo so the thin slices were as charred as the artichokes. Tasty.